ASIA PACIFIC NATIONS SHOULD ENHANCE CAPACITY BUILDING IN HUMANITARIAN & DISASTER

SINGAPORE, June 6 (Bernama) – Malaysia today suggested that countries in the
Asia-Pacific region meet and discuss on ways to improve their capacity and
enhance humanitarian and disaster relief efforts.

The suggestion was made by Defence Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi at
the 9th Shangri-La Dialogue, a security summit of the International Institute
for Strategic Studies, held here.

Zahid said the subject on capacity building in humanitarian and disaster relief
(HADR) could be included on the agenda of the inaugural Asean Defence Ministers’
Meeting (ADMM) - Plus Meeting to be held in Vietnam in October this year.

The ADMM-Plus meeting involves all the 10 ASEAN member nations and eight of
ASEAN’s ten dialogue partners - Australia, China, India, Japan, New Zealand,
South Korea, Russia and the United States.

The minister said with capacity building, through seminars and courses to
improve cooperation and assistance system, the international effort to enhance
HADR cooperation could be further strengthened.

He said close cooperation and better coordination was critical for their
collective ability to deal with natural disasters at regional level, since
assistance delivered unilaterally might be duplicated, wasted and possibly be a
liability.

Coordination was also required to address political, diplomatic and legal issues
with the host country to smoothen the conduct of relief operations, the minister
added.

Zahid said countries facing major disasters, with limited state capacity, should
accept foreign assistance, be it military or others in order to save more lives.

However, he said foreign or international military involvement in any disaster
relief operations must be short and objective orientated, adding that they must
leave the area once the situation had stabilised by handing over the
responsibility to civilian-led government agencies, non-governmental
organisation and the international community.

Zahid said there was also the need for the frequent exchange of best practices
and lessons learnt from recent disasters, for every disaster offered unique
challenges.

He also pointed out the importance of protecting civilians during
humanitarian and disaster relief efforts as there had been allegations of widespread
human rights violations in various disaster operations.

In quake-hit Haiti recently, he said there was significant number of gender
based violence and criminal activities in displaced settlements, adding that
security remained one of the primary concerns of Internally Displaced Persons
(IDP) camps.

Zahid said the Malaysian Armed Forces (MAF) planned to conduct HADR training
with focus on civilian protection either at its peacekeeping training centre or
set up a dedicated centre for such training.

The minister also said the MAF planned to acquire in the near future a float
support platform capability in the form of a multi-role support ship complete
with a helicopter landing deck, which had the capability to carry food, medical,
clothing supplies and utility to disaster areas.

He said using such ship would help eliminate time wastage to transfer relevant
supplies and assistance as it provide some flexibility of deployment, either to
berth the ship at any port or to fly relief supplies to the affected areas from
a nearby anchorage position.

Zahid also said the MAF had strengthened their disaster readiness capability
after noting that timely response or speed was essential in disaster relief, in
terms of saving lives, providing necessities like medical supplies, health care,
temporary shelter, food, clothing and fresh water.

The minister said Malaysia recently allowed the World Food Programme (WFP), the
United Nations food aid agency to set up its first regional hub for disaster
relief at the Royal Malaysian Air Force Base in Subang, near Kuala Lumpur.

The centre would provide storage and training facilities, logistics support, and
other related services to the UN agencies in the region, and is expected to
respond within 48 hours of a crisis unfolding in the Asia-Pacific.

Zahid said the recent devastative earthquake in Haiti had shown how WFP hubs
from Panama, Dubai and Ghana responded to the relief needs in coordinated
rotations.

Similarly, he said Malaysia hoped that in the future, the WFP centre in Subang
would be able to link up with the Asean Coordinating Centre for Humanitarian
Assistance and Disaster Management in Jakarta, Indonesia and coordinate relief
efforts in the event of any catastrophe.
-- BERNAMA