Operations Wing (OPS Wing) Superintendent (SP) Ken Yeung and Chief Inspector (CIP) Stephen Liauw attended the 7th APEC Senior Disaster Management Officials Forum in Bali, Indonesia, in August. Hosted by the Indonesian National Disaster Management Agency, the forum saw wide-ranging deliberations and discussions by officials and delegates from 12 economies, including the Mainland, Australia, Japan and Vietnam.

 

The Asia-Pacific region covers 52 per cent of the earth's surface area and 40 per cent of the world's population, and has a share of over 70 percent of the world's natural disasters. Catastrophes in the region, such as the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami and the earthquake in Sichuan province on the Mainland, Chile, New Zealand and Japan between 2008 and 2011, highlighted the importance of international collaboration in management of disaster relief.

 

During the forum, the participants discussed many aspects of disaster management, including the legislative framework and resources allocation and distribution in the region. They also shared the experiences of recent cases and incidents.

 

"With the increasing frequency and magnitude of natural disasters and civil emergencies in the present globalisation era, it is imperative that police officers, as disaster and emergency management practitioners, are prepared and able to tackle the unexpected and unprecedented incidents. The forum provided very good opportunities for the participants to share, exchange and learn from each other. We have brought home new ideas to revise and refine our emergency response systems," SP Yeung said.

 

"The forum helped develop an international network. Our exchanges and interactions with the participants from different social and economic backgrounds would definitely benefit our disaster management mechanism and emergency preparedness in the long term," CIP Liauw added.

 

The 8th APEC Senior Disaster Management Officials Forum will be held on the Mainland in September next year.