New Asean chief vows disaster response boost

JAKARTA: The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) needs to beef up its disaster management efforts after the region was hammered by deadly storms that left a path of destruction in their wake, its new chief said Friday.

Secretary General Lim Jock Hoi, a veteran Bruneian diplomat, pointed to a tropical storm that battered the southern Philippines last month leaving thousands displaced.

- clone pounded Indonesia’s main island of Java and killed at least 41 people, with tens of thousands forced from their homes by severe

“Our region is disaster- prone,” Lim said at his inau Secretariat in Jakarta.

“This underscores the need to in disaster management and humanitarian assistance.”

tended to focus much of its endeavors on regional diplomacy and economic growth.

Lim takes over from Vietnam’s Le Luong Minh who said main challenge is to bring it “closer to its people.”

“more proactive” and “improve (its) capabilities” in disaster-relief efforts.

“It is therefore incumbent upon us all to enhance the resilience of our communities through disaster risk reduction interventions, climate change adaptation strategies, as well as conservation and sustainable management of biodiversity and natural resources,” he added.

serves a non-renewable term of among member states.