EU Grants £ 7,2 Million for ASEAN Disaster Response

Jakarta, MINA – The European Union grants £ 7,2 million or Rp150 billion for the management of disaster response funds in ASEAN.

EU Ambassador to ASEAN Igor Driesmans said the grant was aimed at helping ASEAN increase the capacity of the AHA Center (the Center for the Coordination of Humanitarian Assistance for ASEAN Disaster Management), as well as strengthening the quality of human resources in the field of disaster through training and technology transfer.

The training is planned to be facilitated by the Swedish Civil Contingency Institute (MSB) and the Estonian Rescue Agency (ESB), thus quoted by CNNIndonesia on Tuesday.

“Of the total funds allocated, 7.2 million Euros was donated directly to the AHA Center,” Driesmans said.

Direct grants to the AHA Center will be used one of them for prevention efforts such as monitoring disasters in the ASEAN region.

AHA Center Executive Director, Adelina Kamal revealed that the grant will be used to finance institutional strengthening, both in terms of finance, facilities and infrastructure, to human resources.

“Through this collaboration program, we want to build better capabilities in mapping disaster risks,” Adelina said.

According to her, ASEAN countries need to improve their capacity to respond to disasters so that in the future institutions like the AHA Center can contribute to providing humanitarian assistance outside the region.

“From the EU we learn how to respond to the outside, what ASEAN must facilitate, because for now, we don’t have the ability to go there,” Adelina concluded. (T/RE1)

Mi’raj News Agency (MINA)