1.

On 17 October, ASEAN Disaster Emergency Communication Exercise was conducted at the ASEAN Coordinating Centre for Humanitarian Assistance on Disaster management (AHA Centre) as part of the ASEAN Disaster Emergency Response Simulation Exercise (ARDEX-13) to be held on 23 October in Viet Nam. In the exercise, the AHA Centre and National Disaster Management Offices (NDMOs) of ASEAN Member States (AMS) communicated simultaneously through the crisis information management system called ASEAN WebEOC. Viet Nam played a role of disaster-affected country and a serious of communications was tested from request for assistance from Viet Nam, offer of assistance from other Member States, acceptance of the assistance by Viet Nam, to matching of assistance.

2.

Through the project on “Establishment of an Integrated Information and Communication Technology System to strengthen the operation of AHA Centre – Phase2”, Japan has extended assistance to AHA Centre for its smooth information sharing with NDMOs of AMS, with development of ASEAN WebEOC as one of its tools. This communication exercise is an important milestone in ASEAN’s disaster emergency communications, as it was the first time for both AHA Centre and AMS to conduct exercise by using ASEAN WebEOC. It is hoped that the exercise contributed to enhance cooperation among AMS in the field of disaster management with the AHA Centre as a regional hub.