WASHINGTON – The ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) will hold a disaster relief exercise in the Philippines on May 4-8 in response to a government request for international relief assistance in the wake of a hypothetical super typhoon striking the central Luzon area.
A US State Department statement said this will be the first ever field exercise for ARF and over 20 countries from the Asia Pacific region will participate in land, air and maritime search and rescue operations and medical assistance, evacuation and engineering reconstruction.
It said the United States and the Philippines will co-sponsor the exercise designed to show the group’s ability to respond to humanitarian assistance and disaster relief.
Civil-military projects will include reconstruction of a school building, construction of a bridge, installation of a water system and the medical treatment of about 8,000 Filipinos in the “stricken area.”
The Association of South East Asian Nations Regional Forum was established in 1994. It comprises 27 countries including the 10 ASEAN member states (Brunei, Burma, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam) and the 10 ASEAN dialogue partners (Australia, Canada, China, the EU, India, Japan, New Zealand, South Korea, Russia and the United States). – Jose Katigbak, STAR Washington Bureau