Washington, DC, June 23, 2008 - The Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery (GFDRR) has agreed to provide grant finance to support the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to strengthen its capacity to rapidly respond to disasters throughout the region - the initial focus will be on helping to assess the impact and damage caused by Cylone Nargis in Myanmar.
A grant of $850,000 has been made to support the ASEAN Secretariat in responding to Cyclone Nargis, which has left 77,738, people dead and 55,917 people still missing. ASEAN is currently leading teams of international experts in conducting the Post-Nargis Joint Assessment, in partnership with the United Nations and supported by Bank technical staff. The grant will be used for training in damage and loss assessment techniques, technical assistance in disaster recovery, and exchange on regional experiences amongst ASEAN members, such as post-Tsunami community-based recovery approaches.
The GFDRR is a partnership of Australia, Canada, Denmark, European Commission, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Norway, USAID/OFDA, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, UK, UNISDR and the World Bank. . It aims to help countries undertake disaster risk and climate change impact assessments, to formulate and implement risk mitigation strategies and reduce the impact of natural disasters or recover from the effects. The support to ASEAN is part of a first tranche of contributions received from Australia and Sweden.
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