Indonesia to Be AHA Center

Semarang - Indonesia has been trusted to be the ASEAN Coordinating Center for Humanitarian Assistance on Disaster Management (AHA Center), a minister said. "Indonesia is entrusted to be the AHA center because it has a lot of experiences in natural disaster management," Coordinating Minister for People's Welfare Agung Laksono said here on Monday. He said that for its legal basis, an agreement on the document of AHA Center would be signed at ASEAN Summit in Bali later in November this year. "AHA Center will be operational this year after the signing of an agreement on the document at ASEAN Summit in Bali in November 2011," Agung Laksono said. According to him, the agreement on the document of AHA Center would be signed by ASEAN foreign ministers before the heads of state/government on November 17, 2011 in Bali. He added that Indonesia has set up a secretariat building and spent Rp5 billion on the preparation for AHA center, located on Thamrin street in Jakarta. "Thus after the signing of the document at ASEAN Summit in Bali later in November, the AHA Center will immediately be physically operational," Agung said. He explained that the AHA Center would be established with the objective of facilitating cooperation and coordination among ASEAN member countries, the United Nations and other international organizations in promoting regional collaboration in disaster handling. Meanwhile, chairman of the committee of senior officials for ASEAN socio-cultural community and the the secretary to the coordinating minister for people's welfare Indroyono Susilo said the AHA Center would facilitate the establishment, maintenance and periodical review of regional standby arrangements for disaster relief and emergency response.