China ASEAN Collaboration: Advancing Disaster Risk Management under the Belt and Road Initiative

Asia-Pacific Region saw over 400 disasters in 2018, with a staggering 45 occurring there. These events resulted in an average of 800 fatalities each month and affected approximately 70,000 people dly. The Asia-Pacific region accounts for 60 of global displacements associated with natural disasters.

Agnst this backdrop, China-ASEAN cooperation promote international collaboration on disaster prevention and mitigation under the Belt and Road Initiative framework. This partnership brought together around 60 government representatives and experts from both regions in Nanning, China, at the 2019 China-ASEAN High-level Forum on Disaster Reduction and Emergency Management held on October 25th.

As nations transition their strategies from post-disaster relief to pre-disaster mitigation and preparedness:

Yanping Shi, Deputy Director-General of the Department for International Cooperation and Rescue under the Ministry of Emergency Management MEMC of China, shared China's five-year National Plan for Disaster Reduction and Prevention. She highlighted that MEMC was established in March 2018 to lead coordination among 32 agencies responsible for natural disaster prevention, reduction, and response.

Moving from disaster relief towards proactive measures:

• The Chinese disaster mechanism focuses on transitioning three key areas: moving from disaster relief to prevention, integrating comprehensive disaster reduction strategies from individual efforts to a holistic approach, and shifting from loss reduction to risk reduction.

For instance, following severe flooding during the 2011 monsoon season in Thland, the country updated its Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Plan 2007, which emphasized disaster management, to the National Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Plan 2015 with a stronger emphasis on reducing disaster risk. Prior to Tropical Storms Podul and Kajiki hitting Thland on October 21st, the government monitored weather patterns since August, activating level 3 disaster management in September, a month ahead of the storms' arrival.

Paul Gilbert Valderrama from the Philippine Red Cross shared their forecast-based financing program enabling access to itarian funding for anticipated disasters. This involves developing four different scenarios during monsoon seasons for potentially affected provinces and addressing risks like loss of lives, income for farmers and fishermen, and household damages through Shelter Strengthening Kits SSK, early agricultural harvesting strategies, and livestock evacuation plans.

ICLEI East Asia's role was to introduce the concept of Resilient Cities in 2002. This framework supports urban development that enhances cities' capacity to absorb shocks and stresses including demographic shifts, environmental emergencies, natural disasters, climate change impacts, and other unforeseen challenges.

It is imperative for developing countries, emphasized Mojie Sun from ICLEI East Asia Secretariat, that a major disaster can derl healthy economic growth over years. This underscores the importance of resilience in sustnable urban development.

Intani Kusuma from ASEAN Secretariat recognized the escalating severity and frequency of disasters across the region, underscoring the urgency to build resilience. He appreciated the China-ASEAN forum for providing an essential platform for knowledge exchange on disaster risk management strategies among governments and experts from participating nations.

In , this event marks a significant step towards fostering global cooperation in enhancing disaster preparedness and strengthening regional resilience agnst future challenges.

ICLEI - Local Governments for Sustnability is dedicated to collaborating with over 2,500 local and regional governments committed to sustnable urban development worldwide.

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