ASEAN to set up disaster center

BANDUNG: Representatives of the member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), the United Nations and other international organizations are in Bandung for a two-day seminar on disaster management and emergency responses that began on Wednesday.

The director general of ASEAN affairs at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Marty Natalegawa, said the seminar was being held to explore the establishment of a regional center for humanitarian assistance.

"An ASEAN center would improve the capacity of member countries to provide quick-response humanitarian assistance in case of natural disasters," Marty said.

If it materialized, the center would compile data on the financial and human resources each member country could commit to disaster relief efforts.

"Each country could just call the center when it came to a disaster. The center would play a coordinating role," said Marty.

The ASEAN center would back up national efforts to deal with natural disasters.

Such regional cooperation in response to natural disasters is seen as urgent following the deadly tsunami last December. -- JP