As one of the fastest growing regions of the world with rapid urbanisation, population growth, natural environment degradation and climate change, Southeast Asia has been more vulnerable to natural disasters that have been increasing in intensity and frequency.
According to data from the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific, natural disasters including floods, storms, heatwaves, droughts, and even earthquakes and tsunamis, have caused countries in the region to suffer an average annual economic loss of up to 86.5 billion USD.
According to statistics from 2012-2020, nearly 3,000 disasters have occurred in Southeast Asia, including some large-scale storms such as Typhoon Bopha (2012) and Typhoon Haiyan (2013) in the Philippines, the Central Sulawesi earthquake and tsunami (2018) in Indonesia, Typhoon Mangkhut (2018) in the Philippines and Typhoon Damrey (2017) in Vietnam.
Amid increasingly complex natural disasters, along with the official return of the El Nino phenomenon, the cooperation among ASEAN member states in disaster management has become a prominent cause and a multi-sector commitment both in the region as well as with partners outside the region. Disaster risk reduction is also one of ASEAN's top priorities to achieve the goals of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, and the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals.
As the Chair of the ASEAN Committee on Disaster Management, Vietnam will host a major forum on disaster management in ASEAN from June 12-16. Hosting this forum shows Vietnam's obligation and also helps the host country improve its role, prestige and position in the region and in the international arena; while enlisting the support from the international community for Vietnam’s disaster prevention and control, actively contributing to building a resilient ASEAN community, towards the common development of the country.
Carrying out the duties of Vietnam as the Chair of the ASEAN cooperation on Disaster Management, to implement the ASEAN Agreement on Disaster Management and Emergency Response, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development of Vietnam will take charge of the Chair of the 11th ASEAN Ministerial Meeting on Disaster Management, the 12th Conference of the Parties (COP) to the ASEAN Agreement on Disaster Management and Emergency Response, the ASEAN-Republic of Korea Ministerial Meeting on Disaster Management, the ASEAN-China Ministerial Meeting on Disaster Management, the ASEAN-Japan Ministerial Meeting on Disaster Management, ASEAN Committee on Disaster Management, the ASEAN Committee on Disaster Management (ACDM) Plus the Republic of Korea, the ASEAN Committee on Disaster Management (ACDM) Plus China, the ASEAN Committee on Disaster Management (ACDM) Plus Japan, and the ASEAN Coordinating Centre for Humanitarian Assistance on disaster management (AHA Centre).
The main contents of meetings, conferences and activities during the of Vietnam's chairmanship in 2023 will focus on reviewing and evaluating the progress of implementing the working programme under the Agreement on Disaster Management and Emergency Response Work Programme during the 2021-2025 period.
This entails adjusting the contributions to the AHA Centre Fund and its operation to support ASEAN members in disaster response, and proposing priorities and mobilising resources to support the implementation of the Agreement on Disaster Management and Emergency Response Work Programme.
In addition, the coordination of response to major disasters in the region as Vietnam takes the role of the Chair of the ASEAN Committee on Disaster Management in 2023 and the cooperation with China, Japan and the Republic of Korea will also be discussed.
To carry out the above tasks, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development will work with the ASEAN Secretariat, the AHA Centre and ASEAN members to organise ASEAN ministerial meetings and a series of technical-level meetings on disaster management in Vietnam in 2023 towards implementing the Agreement on Disaster Management and Emergency Response.
