In the beginning of February, we were all devestated by the earthquake in Türkiye and Syria. EU and ASEAN colleagues exchanged information on their respective roles in the response. The LACER Team Leader updated AHA Centre staff on the activation of the EU Civil Protection Mechanism, first following Syria’s and the World Food Programme’s requests for assistance from the UCPM, which led to nine countries offering assistance of tents, blankets and other shelter items. Thereafter, based on Türkiye’s request for assistance from the UCPM, 26 countries offered 38 search and rescue teams, medical teams and thousands of tents, blankets, heaters and other shelter items. LACER Team Leader shared the daily maps and Copernicus data produced in the wake of the earthquakes.

The LACER project aims to strengthen the institutional capacity of the AHA Centre to become a highly professional and trusted organisation that effectively carries out its operational mandate in facilitating and coordinating regional disaster preparedness and response, sharing European best practices and facilitating and building sustained institutional ASEAN – EU exchange. The project aims to plan for, implement and sustain organisational development using a comprehensive strategic approach. In December, the following activities were implemented.

LACER would like to use the occasion of the holiday season to embrace the decline of the global COVID-19 pandemic, a much awaited development which has allowed the project to soar to new heights over the past year. The return of international travel and in-person events have restored the personal touch to partnership, as we are now able to engage more closely with our partners in South East Asia and foster the kind of sustainable relationships between disaster management experts that we hope will outlive the project.

The month of November was dominated by the visit of LACER experts and project leadership to Jakarta, which included implementation of multiple project activities and meeting staff of the AHA Centre, ASEAN Secretariat, EU Delegation, and other partners.

The LACER project is pleased to contribute to the launch webinar of ARMOR in its 3rd edition, supported by the European Union. The theme of this edition is the intersection of disasters and pandemic.