ASEAN leaders seek support for regional disaster management

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BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN, Oct. 9 -- Leaders from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) on Wednesday adopted here a declaration to seek further political support for regional disaster management efforts.

The ASEAN Declaration on Enhancing Cooperation in Disaster Management, which was passed during the 23rd ASEAN Summit kicked off in the morning, called for regular dialogues and a longer-term vision beyond 2015 to promote ASEAN centrality and leadership in disaster management.

The leaders said they "fully support" the launch of the second phase of the ASEAN Agreement on Disaster Management and Emergency Response (AADMER), which came into forces in 2009, at an upcoming partnership meeting in Vietnam in November.

They also called on relevant ASEAN branches to "undertake necessary steps to ensure effective and timely implementation" of the second phase and encourage ASEAN dialogue partners and international organizations to help "develop a supportive environment that optimizes the implementation," said the declaration.

The leaders also called for promoting regular talks among relevant ASEAN ministerial agencies to accelerate well-coordinated and concerted efforts to realize the disaster resilient and safer communities, reduce disaster losses and jointly response to disaster emergency by using AADMER.

They also tasked relevant ASEAN bodies and related mechanisms to "chart a longer-term vision of ASEAN cooperation in disaster management beyond 2015 that promotes ASEAN's leadership and shared vision" in disaster management in relevant multilateral fora.

The declaration came two days after the World Bank released a 2014 development report, in which it said the ASEAN countries accounted for 14 percent of natural disasters worldwide over the last decade, up from less than 12 percent between 1993 and 2002.

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