ASEAN Disaster Simulation Exercise Begins Amid Typhoon Wipha
By Vijian Paramasivam
PHNOM PENH, July 21 (Bernama) -- ASEAN disaster management officials began conducting a simulation exercise on Monday to review standard operating procedures (SOPs) and improve the region's preparedness to face crises.
This year's ASEAN Regional Disaster Emergency Response Simulation Exercise (ARDEX-25) is taking place against the backdrop of Typhoon Wipha having lashed parts of the Southeast Asian region since Sunday.
bootstrap slideshow
The exercise is jointly organised by Cambodia's National Committee on Disaster Management (NCDM) and the ASEAN Coordinating Centre for Humanitarian Assistance on disaster management.
ARDEX is a full-scale exercise held biennially to test ASEAN's disaster preparedness and emergency response mechanisms.
The activities include preparation processes, search and rescue operations, impact assessment, and national-level immediate response strategies linked to ASEAN, to save the lives of disaster victims.
Typhoon Wipha made landfall in the Philippines and northern Vietnam over the weekend, causing panic and destruction of houses.
Outside the region, China, Taiwan, Macau, and Hong Kong have also suffered from Typhoon Wipha, which has unleashed heavy rainfall and disrupted flight schedules.
ARDEX-25 is held from July 21 to 24 at the Special Forces Command Headquarters of the Royal Cambodian Army Force base in the Kandal province.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Star
8 hours ago
- The Star
Philippine cyclones death toll rises to 30, seven missing
MANILA: (Bernama-Xinhua) At least 30 Filipinos are now known to have died in the southwest monsoon enhanced by three tropical cyclones that triggered flash floods and landslides in the Philippines since last week, Xinhua reported, quoting a Philippine government agency on Saturday (July 26). In a report, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) reported that seven others are missing, either swept away by flash floods or buried in landslides. It added that the massive flooding and landslides also resulted in 10 injuries. The agency reported that it validated 13 of the 30 fatalities. The NDRRMC reported that over 1.46 million families, or approximately 5.30 million people, were affected nationwide. The Office of Civil Defence reported that 88 cities and municipalities have declared a state of calamity to expedite emergency response efforts and facilitate access to necessary resources. Typhoon Wipha, Francisco, and Co-May have exited the Philippines, but the state weather bureau warned Saturday that the southwest monsoon is expected to dump more rain in the coming days in parts of Luzon Island. An average of 20 typhoons lash the Philippines yearly. - Bernama-Xinhua
Malaysian Reserve
10 hours ago
- Malaysian Reserve
Philippine cyclones death toll rises to 30, 7 missing
MANILA — At least 30 Filipinos are now known to have died in the southwest monsoon enhanced by three tropical cyclones that triggered flash floods and landslides in the Philippines since last week, Xinhua reported, quoting a Philippine government agency on Saturday. In a report, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) reported that seven others are missing, either swept away by flash floods or buried in landslides. It added that the massive flooding and landslides also resulted in 10 injuries. The agency reported that it validated 13 of the 30 fatalities. The NDRRMC reported that over 1.46 million families, or approximately 5.30 million people, were affected nationwide. The Office of Civil Defence reported that 88 cities and municipalities have declared a state of calamity to expedite emergency response efforts and facilitate access to necessary resources. Typhoon Wipha, Francisco, and Co-May have exited the Philippines, but the state weather bureau warned Saturday that the southwest monsoon is expected to dump more rain in the coming days in parts of Luzon Island. An average of 20 typhoons lash the Philippines yearly. — BERNAMA-XINHUA
The Star
10 hours ago
- The Star
Typhoons ‘Crising,' ‘Dante,' and tropical storm ‘Emong' combined death toll at 26 in Philippines
MANILA: Tropical Storm 'Emong' (international name: Co-may) made its way to the northern tip of the country on Friday (July 25) but its impact, combined with the enhanced southwest monsoon and the successive Typhoons 'Crising' (Wipha) and 'Dante' (Francisco) this week, left a trail of destruction in many parts of Luzon where at least 26 deaths were reported. The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) on Friday said nine deaths were recorded in Metro Manila, which was battered by heavy rains and widespread flooding. Four deaths were reported in Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal and Quezon) while Western Visayas, Negros Island Region and Northern Mindanao each had three deaths. Mimaropa (Mindoro, Marinduque, Romblon and Palawan), Davao, Central Luzon and Caraga regions each recorded a fatality. A second 'Emong' They included a victim who was electrocuted in Bulacan and two others pinned to death by toppled trees in Camiguin and Surigao del Norte. The NDRRMC tally also showed eight people were reported missing in Western Visayas, Central Luzon, Metro Manila and Calabarzon. Emong was the fifth weather disturbance to hit the Philippines since the rainy season started last month. It struck northern Luzon on Thursday, raising storm warning to Signal No. 4, including western Pangasinan which experienced devastating force, reviving traumatic memories of the storm, also named 'Emong,' that ravaged the province in May 2009. It made landfall in the town of Agno in Pangasinan with maximum sustained winds of 120 kilometers per hour and gusts of up to 165 kph. A man wades along waist-deep floods at a residential area afterTyphoon 'Crising' (Wipha) caused intensified monsoon rains that bought flooding in Quezon city, Philippines, on Monday, July 21, 2025. - Photo: AP Church damaged Emong tore through the Pangasinan towns of Agno, Anda, Bolinao, Burgos, Dasol, Mabini and Sual and Alaminos City, ripping off roofs, uprooting trees, cutting power lines and destroying homes. 'Emong was fierce and destructive,' Precious Cayaon of Barangay Germinal, Bolinao, told the Inquirer. 'Roofs flew off churches and homes, walls and windows peeled away.' Even the historic St. James the Great Parish Church lost a portion of its roof on the eve of the town fiesta in his honour. Parishioners manually bailed out rainwater just to prepare the church for festivities. In Agno, where the typhoon first made landfall, the local Catholic church was damaged, while Bolinao's Baptist church lost its entire roof. A tree fell on Cayaon's grandmother's house, severely damaging it. Though Cayaon's own apartment was spared, she said the howling wind and crashing debris were terrifying. In Alaminos City, resident Melchor Orpilla likened the typhoon's fury to 'a hundred horses rampaging through the house.' Orpilla remembered a similar terror during Emong in 2009, when a massive tree nearly crushed his vehicle. This year's Emong added torrential rain to the chaos, he noted. In Dasol, some churches sheltered evacuees who could no longer be accommodated in official evacuation centers. Local governments worked quickly to clear debris and reopen roads the next morning. Residents across affected towns called for the retirement of the name Emong, which they say carries a 'legacy of trauma.' 'Emong feels like a ghost from the past,' said Jherwan Copa of Bolinao. Copa recalled the 2009 typhoon vividly: roaring winds, crashing waves, rising seawater, and even two waterspouts forming near his coastal village. 'It felt like a scene from a disaster movie—trees falling, roofs flying, people crying, homes gone in a blink,' he said. Residents use poles as they ride an improvised float along a flooded road as Typhoon Co-may intensified seasonal monsoon rains at Malabon city, Philippines on Friday, July 25, 2025. - Photo: AP Out of Philippine area of responsibility on Saturday (July 26) In its 5 p.m. weather bulletin on Friday, the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) said Emong's centre was estimated over the coastal waters of Sabtang, Batanes. It was moving north northeastward at 40 kph. Emong, which had weakened as it move northeastward, was intensifying seasonal monsoon rains that had swamped a large swath of the country for more than a week. Pagasa's forecast showed Emong to be out of the Philippine area of responsibility (PAR) by 2pm Saturday, at 570 km north northeast of Itbayat, Batanes. On Friday, Tropical Cyclone Wind Signal No. 2 was hoisted over Batanes and Babuyan Islands while Ilocos Norte, Apayao and mainland Cagayan was under Signal No. 1. 4.5 million people affected A report from the Office of Civil Defence (OCD) said more than 4.5 million people, belonging to over 1.3 million families, have been affected by heavy rains and floods spawned by Crising, Dante and Emong, and the southwest monsoon this week. The weather disturbances impacted 4,530 barangays nationwide, displacing around 174,000 individuals, or roughly 50,000 families now staying in nearly 1,000 evacuation centres nationwide, according to OCD deputy spokesperson Diego Mariano. A total of 84 areas in the Ilocos, Central Luzon, Calabarzon, Mimaropa, Western Visayas and Metro Manila have declared a state of calamity due to the widespread impact of the storms and enhanced monsoon rains. The declaration speeds emergency funds and freezes the prices of commodities, including rice. Mariano said Central Luzon was the hardest-hit area, with more than 2.2 million people affected. However, he noted that for Emong alone, the hardest-hit areas were La Union and parts of Pangasinan. Policemen and personnel from the disaster response unit of Silang, Cavite, on Friday (July 25, 2025) retrieve one of two missing construction workers whose barracks were buried by a landslide that hit Barangay Iruhin West following heavy rains on Thursday. - Photo: Marianne Bermudez As high as 6 feet In Bulacan, massive evacuations of residents were conducted in several towns and cities, as floodwater went as high as 1.82 meters (6 feet), prompting at least seven towns and cities to place their localities in a state of calamity. In Zambales, the agricultural damage caused by the weather disturbances reached at least P15 million, with 2,315.53 hectares of rice fields in 13 towns flooded, affecting 2,460 farmers, the Office of the Provincial Agriculturist reported Friday. Agricultural losses in Oriental Mindoro was at P189.6 million as of Friday, the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office said. Power outages hit parts of Baguio City and Benguet province as early as 2am on Friday as Emong battered the Cordillera. The Baguio government recorded 33 incidents of landslides on Thursday. Work crews on Friday responded to another rockslide at Camp 6 along Kennon Road. - Philippine Daily Inquirer/ANN
