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This month, the Lao PDR National Disaster Management Office (NDMO) together with the UN’s Inter-Agency Standing Committee Country Team organised a high-level meeting in Vientiane to discuss priorities for disaster management risk reduction and the development of a Comprehensive Disaster Management Plan.

The 11th of March 2012 marked the first anniversary of the devastating earthquake and tsunami which struck Japan, leaving 20,000 people dead or missing.

There is a dizzying array of international and bilateral legal instruments addressing nuclear power – ranging from the siting of nuclear installations to safety and early notification of accidents.

The 17th century English poet John Donne wrote that “no man is an island, entire of itself.”

Indonesia is a true exemplar when it comes to having a comprehensive legal system for disaster risk management (DRM). Having learnt from first-hand experience and many disaster operations, national authorities have continued to ensure the country is well-prepared to face the inevitability of future disasters.

The Indonesian Red Cross Society (Palang Merah Indonesia, or PMI) and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) launched the first formal impact study of a national legal framework for the management of international disaster assistance based on the Guidelines for the Domestic Facilitation and Regulation of International Disaster Relief and Initial Recovery Assistance (IDRL Guidelines).

Since the devastating effects of the 2004 tsunami, Indonesia has taken great strides to improve its legal preparedness for disaster management and emergency response.

In April, the city of Padang, West Sumatra played host to over 100 representatives from the Indonesian government, the military, the Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, humanitarian organizations and the international donor community, who came together to participate in the ‘International Table Top Exercise: Mentawai Megathrust Direx 2013.’

In May of this year, representatives of the Indonesia Red Cross Society (also known as Palang Merah Indonesia or PMI) joined Indonesian customs and disaster management officials in participating in a regional “Seminar on the Role of Customs in Natural Disaster Relief” organized by the World Customs Organisation, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) and the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Bangkok.

The Indonesian Disaster Management Authority (also known as Badan Nasional Penanggulangan Bencana, or BNPB), together with UN OCHA, recently conducted a simulation exercise on the receipt of international humanitarian assistance during emergency response operations.