Between 26 March and 1 April 2018, 30 ASEAN citizens gathered in Nay Pyi Taw, Myanmar to undertake a week long and intensive training course alongside a 3-day simulation exercise to become members of the Emergency Response and Assessment Team (ERAT). For this course, participants came from ASEAN Member States (Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, the Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam), AADMER Partnership Group (APG) representing the civil society, partner organizations, ASEAN Secretariat, AHA Centre, and the Red Cross Red Crescent Movement.

The main objective of the course is to prepare for regional responders and in-country resources, with experience in emergency management and coordination, for major disasters in the ASEAN region. The AHA Centre maintains a pool of trained ERAT members that are ready to be deployed for in-country and regional response operations.

Most of us may not know that ASEAN has a special team that is always ready when needed by the countries facing disasters. Association of Southeast Asian Nations Emergency Response and Assessment Team or ASEAN ERAT is a team that is equipped with specialized knowledge and skills during emergency response, such as rapid assessment, coordination and resource mobilization, and facilitating humanitarian assistance. A team from the ASEAN countries have a role in rapid disaster response.

Establishment of ASEAN ERAT is relevant to the context and the high potential for disaster in Southeast Asia region. ASEAN ERAT was first formed by the ASEAN Committee on Disaster Management (ACDM) in 2007, which adhered to the AADMER and ASEAN SASOP. ASEAN Agreement on Disaster Management and Emergency Response or AADMER came into effect on 26 July 2005 and is a framework for cooperation, coordination, technical assistance, and mobilization of resources in emergency response, while ASEAN SASOP is standard operating procedure for ASEAN humanitarian mission.

ASEAN ERAT was first mobilized for the humanitarian mission after the Cyclone Nargis in Myanmar in 2008. Since then, ASEAN ERAT has conducted several humanitarian missions, such as the Mentawai Tsunami (2010), Bangkok Flood (2011), Bopha Typhoon (2012), Bohol Earthquake (2013), Haiyan and Rammasun Typhoon (2014), etc.

This is the 9^th ERAT Induction Training where the Red Cross and Red Crescent plays a crucial role in being as one of active humanitarian players on the ground and ensuring humanitarian principles and rules as well as RCRC response tools are inducted and embedded throughout the course and simulation exercise.