Jakarta, 26 October 2017 – The ASEAN Coordinating Centre for Humanitarian Assistance on disaster management (AHA Centre) has arranged for the collection and delivery of 80 tons of relief materials for displaced communities in Rakhine State.
The shipment of relief items includes family tents, family kits, personal hygiene kits, kitchen sets, aluminium boats, and generators. This humanitarian assistance arrived in Sittwe, the port city of Rakhine Province, between 15th and 17th October. Relief Items were received by the Minister of Social Welfare, Relief, and Resettlement (MSWRR) of Myanmar. Representatives of MSWRR have been working with the AHA Center on the distribution plan to ensure that the relief items reach displaced communities without discrimination, as called for in the ASEAN Chairman’s Statement on the Humanitarian Situation in Rakhine State.
Dr. Win Myat Aye, the Union Minister of Social Welfare, Relief, and Resettlement of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar, invited representatives of the AHA Centre team and a member of ASEAN Emergency Response and Assessment Team (ERAT) from Myanmar to witness the distribution of relief items from the Union Enterprise for Humanitarian Assistance, Resettlement and Development (UEHRD) to ethnic groups at three remote locations in Rakhine province on 16th October 2017.
The groups include the Mro ethnic group in Laung Don village in northern Rakhine, the relocation area for the Mro ethnic group near Laung Don village, and the Muslim community in Paungtawpye near Maungdaw. The team had opportunity to witness the areas and speak with the representatives of ethnic groups on the way to Maungdaw. The team also had an aerial view of burnt areas in and around Maungdaw.
AHA Centre continues its ongoing discussion with the Government of Myanmar to ensure the relief items reach displaced communities without discrimination. In the meantime, the Government of Singapore has announced that the humanitarian aid contribution of 100,000 SGD for the displaced communities in Rakhine State will be channeled through AHA Centre.
The AHA Centre’s ability to win the trust of the host government to deliver the relief items was reported to the 7th Meeting of the Governing Board of the AHA Centre held on 18 October 2017 at Luang Prabang, Cambodia. The Governing Board decided that the AHA Centre’s focus should remain on response to natural disasters, and that the provision of humanitarian assistance to other types of emergencies will be decided on a case-by-case basis, as guided by the Governing Board.
“While our experiences from Marawi and Rakhine have allowed us to grow and develop our capacity to engage in humanitarian response in other contexts, our focus for the time being will be on our main objectives, which are operationalising ‘One ASEAN One Response’, and realising the vision for ASEAN to become the future global leader on disaster management,” said Ms. Adelina Kamal, Executive Director of the AHA Centre.
About the ASEAN Coordinating Centre for Humanitarian Assistance
The AHA Centre is an inter-governmental organisation established by ten (10) ASEAN Member States on 17 November 2011 with the aim to facilitate cooperation and coordination of disaster management amongst ASEAN Member States. AHA Centre also cooperates with relevant international organisations and partners of ASEAN, including Japan, who has provided support to the AHA Centre in establishing the disaster emergency logistic system for ASEAN and the regional stockpile of relief items. The AHA Centre is based in Jakarta, Indonesia.
For more information regarding the AHA Centre, please contact:
Ms. Shintya Kurniawan (Communications Officer of the AHA Centre)
Email: comm@ahacentre.org
Phone: +62 21 210 12278 ext. 108 (office)
