ASEAN achieves a milestone towards regional disaster risk reduction Format The year 2020 was a difficult year for Southeast Asia which, in addition to dealing with the surge of the COVID-19 pandemic, faced several disasters caused by extreme weather events, most notably in the Philippines and Vietnam, two Member States of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). Highlighting the urgent need to strengthen regional cooperation against disaster risks, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, in his address to the 37th ASEAN Summit on 12 November, called on ASEAN Member States to enhance “cooperation on disaster risk reduction management to reinforce our capacities, both at the national and regional levels.”