Tuesday, 16 October 2007
Asean to test Regional Emergency Response and Humanitarian Assistance
Capacities in a Simulated Collapsed Structure Disaster Scenario
“In the early hours of 20 October 2007 several multi-storey apartment buildings collapsed, trapping hundreds of residents within the collapsed structures and debris. The prevailing heavy downpour at the time of the incident also posed further concerns to the responding emergency authorities as several residents trapped within the collapsed structures are in danger of drowning. A state of civil emergency was declared and the National Disaster Management Organisation (NDMO) of the affected country had requested for assistance from the regional Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) teams through the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Coordinating Centre for Humanitarian Assistance on disaster management (AHA Centre) to aid in the search and rescue efforts. ASEAN Member Countries have responded swiftly by mobilising their disaster response assets including search and rescue teams. Other local and international organisations have also joined in the race against time to save lives…”.
The above depiction is the exercise scenario that will be played out at the Singapore Civil Deference Force (SCDF) Mandai Training Village (Mandai Road) on 24 October 2007 as part of the ASEAN Regional Disaster Emergency Response Simulation Exercise 2007 (code-named ARDEX-07). Search and rescue teams fully equipped with specialised equipment and logistics shall be mobilised by Brunei Darussalam, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, and Thailand. They are expected to arrive in Singapore on 21 October 2007. Teams from UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Assistance (OCHA) and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies will also participate. The major joint search and rescue operations shall be carried out on 24 October 2007. The disaster response operations will be led by Singapore authorities with the support of ASEAN Member Countries under the guidance of the ASEAN Agreement on Disaster Management and Emergency Response (AADMER).
ARDEX-07 is the third of a series of annual disaster simulation exercises which ASEAN conducts to enhance the capacities and capabilities of Member Countries in joint disaster management operations. The first simulation exercise was held in Selangor, Malaysia in 2005 simulating a major collapse of buildings, and Cambodia hosted the event last year in Kein Svay District and Takhmau City in Kandal Province simulating a flashflood scenario along the Tonle Bassac River. Scenarios used in each exercise attempt to replicate the scale and nature of destruction brought about by disasters such as earthquakes, landslides and typhoons, etc which occur in some of the Member Countries from time to time.
This disaster simulation exercise is one of the many regional emergency
response capacity building activities of the ASEAN Committee on Disaster
Management (ACDM) guided by the AADMER which ASEAN Foreign Ministers signed
on 26 July 2005 in Vientiane, Lao PDR.
The preparations for ARDEX-07 began with an Exercise Design Workshop on
7 -11 May 2007 in Singapore and the Training of Facilitators in Contingency
Planning in Philippines on 30 July – 3 August 2007. The planning
and simulation exercises are important initiatives which facilitate learning
of lessons and generate constructive and practical inputs in preparation
for the implementation of the AADMER, in particular the development of
the ASEAN Standby Arrangements and Standard Operating Procedures (SASOP)
for disaster management operations. Moreover, ARDEX-07 directly benefit
ASEAN Member Countries as national and international mechanisms for disaster
and emergency response, including cooperation and collaboration in humanitarian
actions, are collectively understood, tested, and enhanced.
ASEAN welcomes participation of other countries, local, regional and international
organisations and the media to observe this simulation exercise. Interested
parties may obtain further information from the ASEAN Secretariat (Ms.
Adelina Kamal), tel. (62-21) 7243372, 7262991, or the Singapore Civil
Defence Force (Deputy Commissioner Peter Lim Sin Pang), tel. (65) 6848
3207.
ASEAN is comprised of Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR,
Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Viet Nam.
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ASEAN Secretariat
For media inquiries please contact: Suchela Phachaiyapoom, Public Affairs
Office, the ASEAN Secretariat, Tel + (62-21) 726 2991 ext. 420, e-mail:
suchela@aseansec.org or Adelina Kamal, Environment and Disaster Management,
Bureau for Resources Development, ASEAN Secretariat, Tel: + (6221) 7262991
ext. 316, e-mail: lina@aseansec.org
