Annex 11: Asian Disaster Management Landscape
Over the last decade Asia has suffered the greatest number of natural and
technological disasters, with an alarming 80% of the global death toll
1
. At the
same time, economic growth in Asia has been strong with many Asian
economies well-established and making major investments in infrastructure,
including militaries and disaster management. The region is also home to
more than 75% of the world’s volcanoes and experiences 90% of the world’s
earthquakes. As a result, the Asian community has both the need - and to
some extent the capacity, to focus on disaster risk management at the
national and regional level.
Asia is diverse – it comprises 2/3ds of the world’s population; over 50% of the
world’s surface, 50% (and growing) of the world’s economy, 45% of the
world’s military and is home to 70% of the world’s disasters.
There exist a plethora of regional mechanisms (bodies, organizations and
fora) that engage on particular aspects of disaster management, either as
their key focus or as part of their broader regional engagement. Principal
among these are the Association of South East Asian Nations, ASEAN, the
Asia-Pacific Economic Community, APEC, and the South Asian Association
for Regional Cooperation, SAARC. However, there are also sub-regional
entities and organisations within the larger groupings focusing on one or more
disaster management elements.
And, unlike the approach in the Pacific Islands where there is an overarching
10-year regional disaster risk management strategy, disaster risk
management strategies in Asia are more loosely aligned with individual
regional organization and national policy agendas. Membership of the fora
and organizations differ. As a consequence, there is no single disaster
management framework across Asia.
Many international humanitarian organizations (United Nations, Red Cross
Movement, and non-government organizations) have established a
permanent presence in Asia and Bangkok in particular has become home to a
number of regional headquarters. Not only are their response operations run
from the region, but many of these agencies are establishing permanent
disaster risk management programs such as stores warehousing, response
coordination working groups, scenario and training centres as well as disaster
risk reduction programs.
All Asian countries have established national disaster management
mechanisms and for most this is a civilian National Disaster Management
Organisation supported by variable levels of associated legislation,
regulations and resources – including military capabilities. Civil society
(including local non-government organisations and faith-based organizations)
form an important component to the region’s preparedness, response and
recovery capabilities. The expertise, resources, and knowledge of best
1
IFRC – World Disasters Report.
