ASEAN Regional Forum Disaster Relief

ADF Participates In The Inaugural ASEAN Regional Forum Disaster Relief Field Activity

The Australian Defence Force, as well as representatives from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and AusAID, are participating in the first ever Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Regional Forum field activity, which will demonstrate disaster response capabilities.

The ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) Voluntary Demonstration of Response (VDR) on disaster relief, co-hosted by the Philippines and the United States, is demonstrating air, land and sea response capabilities of contributing nations to the effects of a fictional super-typhoon in the Central Luzon region of the Philippines.

The VDR is the first field activity for the ARF and is a significant further development in regional disaster relief cooperation following a successful desktop exercise co-hosted by Indonesia and Australia in May 2008.

A variety of countries and organisations are contributing assets to the ARF VDR, including Australia, the European Union, Indonesia, Japan, Mongolia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, the Republic of Korea, Singapore, Sri Lanka and the United States of America.

The Australian Defence Force is contributing a contingent comprising medical and engineering teams as well as a command and control element.

The ARF VDR was launched yesterday and will run until 8 May.

Australia strongly supports the ARF VDR in promoting regional multilateralism and enhancing the coordination of response to regional natural disasters.

The ARF, partly an Australian diplomatic initiative, comprises 27 countries and is unique as the only regional arrangement capable of bringing together civil and military elements to cooperate on strengthening regional peace and security.

ENDS

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