STRENGTHENING REGIONAL EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS
According to Mr Tong, two other areas will be vital for ASEAN’s disaster preparedness in the coming decade: Localisation and knowledge exchange.
He noted that ASEAN has steadily expanded its capabilities to manage disasters.
This includes the ASEAN Emergency Response and Assessment Team (ERAT), which is already equipped with specialised skills to “conduct a very high-level of sophisticated needs assessment and facilitate humanitarian assistance”, allowing it to support countries hit by disasters.
Three SCDF officers were part of the ERAT team that assisted in quake relief efforts in Myanmar.
The number of members has also increased from 322 in 2021 to 457 in 2025, with Mr Tong calling it “encouraging” and a “testament to the consistency and value of our training and capacity building”.
However, a “one-size-fits-all approach cannot meet the needs of a region as diverse as ASEAN”, he added.
Disaster response should be tailored, and Mr Tong noted efforts have been made to customise the ASEAN-ERAT programme to each country’s needs and context.
The efforts include tailoring the curriculum to consider each country’s logistics capabilities as well as the use of local languages.
“This then ensures that local responders can react to an emergency, not just quickly, but in a way which is most effective,” he said.
Bringing up Indonesia’s “Disaster Resilient Villages” initiative, Mr Tong pointed out that local community representatives from Panuspan village came together to mitigate the risk of landslides by mapping out disaster evacuation routes and identifying locations to establish landslide warning sirens.
He also mentioned evacuation plans drawn up by an elderly association in Vietnam’s Phu Thuong ward to help support immobile people during storms and floods. The level of detail that went into the planning helped “ensure their prompt evacuation to safety during Typhoon Noru in 2022”.
Knowledge-sharing across borders will also be key, Mr Tong said.
He highlighted platforms like the ASEAN Strategic Policy Dialogue on Disaster Management and the upcoming Singapore-International Disaster and Emergency Management Expo in November, which will bring together governments, academics and community groups.
The expo will be the largest showcase on disaster management and emergency response in the Asia-Pacific, and it will cover topics ranging from “societal resilience and psychological resilience of the community”, he said.
Partners, such as South Korea, have also contributed to ASEAN’s disaster management by training 320 individuals and providing simulation-based disaster exercises through field visits to their incident command centres.
Mr Tong urged ASEAN to continue to leverage the experience of other countries, including South Korea, Japan and China.
“I think we all start with the perspective that there is no monopoly over good ideas – the more we exchange, the more we talk about scenarios, the more we are able to exchange best practices and know-how, the stronger we will be, and we would be able to level up,” he said.
https://www.channelnewsasia.com/singapore/emergency-alerts-phones-cell-broadcast-system-scdf-disaster-management-relief-asean-5304051
