Mr. Hadianto Rasyid, SE, the Mayor of Palu City, expressed his gratitude for the generous support from the people of Brunei Darussalam, the Government of the Philippines, the Government of Australia, the Direct Relief, and other supporters of the ASEAN Village. He also commended the AHA Centre for coordinating assistance for the ASEAN Village project, to contribute to the recovery programme in Central Sulawesi. “We’re very grateful that today the ASEAN Village is officially launched. We also thank all donors for their contribution and support for the people of Palu City,” Mr. Hadianto said during the launch.
The construction of the ASEAN Village started in August 2019. Under the first-phase construction, 75 units of permanent houses were handed over to the local government in April 2020. The construction continued with additional 25 units of permanent houses, one mosque, and one auxiliary health centre, all of these were handed over to the Government of Palu City in April 2021, five days before the start of Ramadhan, to allow for the facilities to be used immediately by the residents of the ASEAN Village and the surrounding areas. “The ASEAN Village provides solutions for the affected community who previously lived in the temporary shelters,” he added.
The Secretary-General of ASEAN Excellency Dato Lim Jock Hoi, joining the launch virtually from Jakarta, expressed his hope that the ASEAN Village would provide the people of Palu an opportunity for a safe environment to recover from the destructive impact of the disaster and to resume their livelihood activities. “I am pleased to note that the ASEAN Village is part of the new development design of the city of Palu, strategically located in close proximity to key social infrastructures including schools, healthcare facilities and markets”.
The AHA Centre facilitated ASEAN’s collective response during the emergency response stage, subsequently in the early recovery phase, as well as for the rehabilitation and reconstruction period. For the development of the ASEAN Village, the AHA Centre worked closely with the Palu City Government as the direct counterpart and implementing partner, under the guidance of Indonesia’s National Disaster Management Authority or BNPB.
Joining the launch in Palu with her team, Ms. Adelina Kamal, the Executive Director of the AHA Centre, expressed her hope that the ASEAN Village can be included into the disaster-resilient village programme, which is one of the Indonesia’s government programmes in the efforts to strengthen the resiliency of the communities through community-based disaster risk reduction efforts. “The ASEAN Village shall have the resiliency to adapt to, anticipate and deal with possible future disaster threats”, she said during the launch.
The AHA Centre will also launch a book called “New Homes of Opportunities” that documents its experiences and learnings over the past two years in building the ASEAN Village, and captures the thoughts and recommendations from the ASEAN Village’s supporters and survivors.
The official launch of the ASEAN Village was also attended by the Governor of Central Sulawesi Province Mr. Rusdi Mastura, and virtually via zoom by the Ambassador of the Philippines to ASEAN Excellency Noel Servigon; Ambassador of Brunei Darussalam to ASEAN Excellency Pengiran Hairani Pengiran Tajuddin; Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade Counsellor, Mr. Simon Ernst; Executive Vice President of the Direct Relief, Mr. Bhupi Singh; and Ambassadors and representatives from ASEAN Member States as well as Dialogue Partners and Partners of ASEAN.
Click here for the video about the ASEAN Village: https://bit.ly/TheLaunchVid, and here https://bit.ly/TheLaunchCeremony for the YouTube recording of the launch.
Trần Việt Kim Chi
