Indonesia sent 3,728 participants and a number of helicopters, airplanes, and war ships to the exercise held on March 14-20, Head of North Sulawesi province`s natural disaster mitigation division, Hoyke Makarawung, said here Friday.
The Indonesian participants consisted of military and police personnel, rescue workers, Indonesian Red Cross (PMI) activists and students, he said.
The exercise, officially opened by Vice President Boediono, was also participated in by 561 representatives of 19 other countries and backed up by such search and rescue equipment as choppers and C-130 planes and field hospital facilities, he said.
Boediono reminded the ARF-Direx`s participating countries of the importance of sound regional cooperation in natural disaster responses among Asia Pacific rim countries.
"We have not forgotten the 2004 tsunami that struck from the Indian Ocean. It killed hundreds of thousands of people in Indonesia, India, Sri Lanka, and Thailand a day after Christmas in 2004," he said.
"This time, a huge natural disaster has again occurred in Japan. This again shows that having sound regional cooperation and excellent disaster response management is highly needed," he said.
Speaking at the opening of 2011 ARF-Direx last Tuesday, Boediono said almost all members of the ARF were located in the Pacific "ring of fire".
These countries were vulnerable to such natural disasters as volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, tsunamis, flooding, and landslides, he said.
Due to the fact that a series of tremendous natural disasters had frequently happened in the Asia Pacific region over the past years, Boediono said this great challenge needs to be responded together.
"This has become a common problem that demands international community`s attention," he said.
In connection with this, Boediono said the joint-exercises in this ARF Direx was a good effort to improve the capability of building cooperation and managing disaster responses of all related stakeholders in the region.
Japanese Deputy Ministry for Foreign Affairs Makiko Kikuta was present at the ARF Direx though Japan did not participate in the joint-exercise due to a recent tsunami that struck it.
The current participants in the ARF are Indonesia, Australia, Bangladesh, Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Canada, China, European Union, India, Japan, Democratic Peoples` Republic of Korea, Republic of Korea, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Mongolia, New Zealand, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, Russian Federation, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Timor Leste, the United States, and Vietnam.
(Uu.R013/HAJM/S012)
Editor: Priyambodo RH
Copyright © ANTARA 2011
