CCTV9英语新闻：China works with ASEAN in disaster response

For the last four days, some 4,000 people representing 19 countries have been involved in disaster relief exercises in Northern Malaysia. The drill rehearsed the response to a simulated super-typhoon. This year's ASEAN Regional Forum disaster relief exercises were co-organized by Malaysia and China.

 

28 vessels, four helicopters and personnel from Malaysia, China, Thailand and India took part in these maritime search and rescue exercises off Malaysia’s West Coast.

 

On the sea, in the air, on land. The ASEAN Regional Forum disaster relief exercises have played out challenging scenarios including landslides, flooding, mass evacuations and hazardous chemical leaks.

 

"These exercises have provided practical training for these countries to cooperate together to combat natural disasters and emergencies in future, and I think this event also provided a very beneficial opportunity to train our professionals," Dou Yupei, deputy minister of China Civil Affairs, said.

 

Whether in the field or at a table, participants showed the same level of commitment.

 

"They are very professional, concentrate, very dedicated to this exercise. And also there are a lot of interesting findings and opinions regarding to regional emergency management. I do believe this is the starting point, not the ending point," Dr. Saini Yang, China facilitator of Tabletop Exercises, said.

 

For the ASEAN countries these exercises moved the region closer to a key goal – one that began in earnest in 2011 with the creation of a centre in Jakarta to coordinate humanitarian assistance and disaster management.

 

"It's about working toward a fast, collective response of ASEAN which is all the member states working now what we call One ASEAN, One Response, bringing different stakeholders in ASEAN, responding together as one," Said Faisal, exec. dir. of ASEAN Humanitarian Assistance Centre, said.

 

And it’s not just went disaster strikes this region that ASEAN countries are looking to improve collaboration. Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore worked together as a team to provide humanitarian and disaster relief in Nepal after the earthquake.

 

A sign, perhaps, of ASEAN’s growing maturity – and its readiness to think and act collectively in the face of serious challenges.