Introduction | What is AADMER? | AADMER Content | AHA Centre

Asia-Pacific is the world’s most natural disaster-prone region. The region suffered 152 natural disasters in 2008, the most devastating being Cyclone Nargis. More recently, a 7.6-magnitude earthquake hit Indonesia in October, around the same time that successive typhoons battered the Philippines and flooded Viet Nam, Cambodia and Lao PDR. Emerging trends, notably urbanisation, climate change, and demographic shifts, are the impetus for new and shifting vulnerabilities to disasters. Due to climate change, delta regions in South, East and South-East Asia are expected to be at increased risk of flooding; food security will be threatened by increased drought; and small island States in the Pacific will be at increased risk of inundation, storm surges, erosion, and other coastal hazards.

ASEAN has gained a storehouse of lessons in disaster management that can be passed down to member states required to draw up national plans on manage disasters in accordance with the ASEAN Agreement on Disaster Management and Emergency Response (AADMER).