Disaster management is multi-disciplinary so ASEAN needs many areas of expertise
which are best practiced by different types of agencies. AADMER Partnership Group
(APG) is a consortium of international non-governmental organizations. It consists of
seven organizations, including Child Fund International, Help Age International, Mercy
Malaysia, Oxfam, Plan Organization, Save the Children and World Vision International.
“The APG aims to strengthen ASEAN’s humanitarian response and disaster risk
reduction strategies through enhancing the collaboration between civil society
organizations (CSO) and ASEAN governments on the activities under the AADMER
Work Program” (Carreon 2011). The APG looks for and facilitates further resource
mobilization to ensure the continued support for the AADMER Work Program. It
fulfills the principle of involving all stakeholders in regional disaster management and
also directly participates in ASEAN’s disaster-related programs, including all meetings
of the ACDM. This initiative is very important for two reasons. First, APG has expertise
and manpower trained in specific skills dealing with specific issues. Second, the CSO is
believed to be both a primary source of assistance on special issues that emerge during a
disaster, and a secondary support partner when needed. Thus, the provision of an
organized and systematic arrangement for the APG will help improve ASEAN
operation effectiveness.
Technical assistance is an essential element in capacity building. The exchange of
knowledge and technology is usually at the heart of disaster management assistance.
Bilateral agreement is usually the most effective and efficient mechanism in requesting
and delivering assistance. Previous agreement sets proper, clearer, and more familiar
procedures for agencies on both sides to coordinate disaster operations. Evidently, in
Thailand, after the Indian Ocean Tsunami in 2004, several United States agencies such
as United State Trade and Development Agency (USTDA) and United State Agency for
International Development (USAID) assisted the Thai government through the
establishment of the National Disaster Warning Center, the deployment of the Tsunami
Deep Ocean Buoy detection system, and the training on Incident Command System.
This type of favorable bilateral relationship was also repeated in on-ground operations
following Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines, which relied upon joint forces and
emergency teams from the United States.