ASEAN was prone natural disasters such as earthquakes and tsunamis which frequently hit the region, the president said here Saturday in his opening speech at the 18th ASEAN Summit being held in Jakarta, May 7-8, 2011.
He cited the massive earthquake and tsunami that struck the eastern part of Japan just two months ago.
"Thousands of people perished and unaccounted loss of property and infrastructure. That reminds of us of the tsunami which devasted Aceh seven years ago, where thousands of people lost their lives and inflicted huge material losss," he said.
He outlined two main points to handle natural disasters. The first point is to enhance the capacity and coordination at the regional level through the establishment of ASEAN Coordinating Center for Humanitarian Assistance on Disaster Management (AHA Center).
"And second, we must intensify joint exercise in disaster management, such as the ASEAN Regional Forum of Siaster Relief in Manado in March, which was jointly chaired by Indonesia and Japan," he said.
He mentioned that other problems facing ASEAN included the global economic and financial crisis, the climate change, illegal migrations of people that created political, social and security problems not only in the countries of destination, but also in transit countries.
The 18th ASEAN Summit is being participated in by Sultan of Brunei Darussalam Hassanal Bolkiah Mu`izzaddin Waddaulah, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, Lao Prime Minister Thongsing Thammavong, Malaysian Prime Minister Dato` Sri Mohd Najib bin Tun Abdul Razak, Myanmar Prime Minister Thein Sein, President of the Philippines Benigno S. Aquino III, Senior Minister of Singapore S. Jayakumar representing Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung, and President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono as the host and the ASEAN Chair 2011.(*)
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Editor: Ruslan Burhani
Copyright © ANTARA 2011
