Southeast Asia is prone to both large-scale disasters that could cause massive deaths and
major setbacks to development, as well as recurrent small to medium disasters that
could undermine national well-being and community resilience. Disasters travel across
jurisdictions requiring each nation not only to be well prepared but also to forge more
systematic coordination with its neighbors. Some disasters are large in scale, resulting
in long and severe disruption that exceeds the capacity of a single nation to cope with
the devastation. Bilateral and multilateral cooperation have been established by each
nation through existing relationships that facilitate technical assistance, knowledge
sharing, and integrated joint-operation exercises. However, these patterns of
coordination are often fragmented and unorganized. Since the Indian Ocean tsunami in
2004, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has turned its attention to
the establishment of regional collaborative disaster management. As discussed below,
several mechanisms have been developed to support more effective regional
collaboration.