PHILIPPINE Red Cross (PRC) Chairman Richard Gordon has called on ASEAN member states to implement regular joint disaster-response exercises and scenario planning, emphasizing the need to ensure rapid regional assistance when calamities strike.
Speaking in Manila on Thursday at the ASEAN High-Level Meeting on the ASPECT Framework, Gordon stressed that neighboring nations must practice coordination before a crisis unfolds, specifically regarding the seamless cross-border transit of responders, relief goods, medical personnel, and vital equipment.
“Interoperable, coordinated, timely and inclusive response should be the goal,” Gordon stated.
To eliminate bureaucratic delays during emergencies, he advocated for pre-agreed cross-border arrangements that streamline customs clearance and the entry of humanitarian workers, medicines, and supplies.
Such protocols would prevent nations from having to negotiate logistical procedures in the immediate aftermath of a disaster.
Furthermore, Gordon highlighted the importance of establishing routine dialogues among ASEAN National Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, alongside regional simulation exercises to test how receiving nations process international assistance.
“Practice should be part of preparedness,” Gordon noted, asserting that true regional cooperation must remain operational rather than existing merely as an agreement on paper.