ASEAN holds first joint disaster drill

ASEAN holds first joint disaster drill

MALAYSIA: Some 200 personnel took part in Southeast Asia's first joint disaster drill on Monday, aimed at preparing the region to respond more effectively to events like last year's tsunami tragedy.

Search and rescue personnel, including sniffer dogs and their handlers, swarmed over a 20-story abandoned building on the outskirts of the Malaysian capital which under the simulation had "collapsed" in a major earthquake.

Rescuers used shovels and their bare hands to remove rubble and extract "victims", while fire fighters extinguished simulated fires in the wreckage, and police units were on standby to arrest "looters".

"This is first ever kind of disaster exercise conducted jointly by ASEAN countries," said Raman Letchumanan, head of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) environment and disaster management unit.

"It is to establish a standard operating procedure so that in the future if we have another disaster, we can respond quickly without delays," said Raman, from the ASEAN secretariat in Jakarta. -- AFP