ASEAN to meet again on tsunami

INDONESIA: Jakarta will host a meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) from Jan. 18 to Jan. 19, to follow up the proposal to establish regional mechanisms on disaster prevention and mitigation, as agreed in the emergency summit last week.

Marty Natalegawa, spokesman for the Indonesian foreign ministry, said on Friday that the meeting would discuss ways to increase ASEAN's capacity in rapid response to humanitarian crises.

"This includes the utilization of military and civilian personnel in emergency relief operations and setting up the ASEAN humanitarian assistance center," he told reporters.

The ideas for a standby force arrangement and a regional humanitarian assistance center had been outlined in the ASEAN Security Community Plan of Action, endorsed by the 10 ASEAN leaders in Laos last November. -- JP