ABSTRACT

The geographical location of the Southeast Asia region, which is between an intercontinental fault, two oceans, and the Pacific Ring of Fire, has implications for the probability of the region’s vulnerability to natural disasters. Therefore, how Southeast Asian countries deal with this problem becomes an interesting subject of study. The awareness among Southeast Asian countries of the necessity for collective efforts in disaster mitigation and disaster management is closely related to the ASEAN Way mechanism. This paper discusses environmental security by looking at the ASEAN mechanism in disaster management and the case studies of disasters that occurred in Indonesia. Employing the concept of cohesion, the signing of the AADMER and the establishment of the AHA Centre became a positive signal of group cohesion. This study finds that there is a contradiction between the ASEAN Way and the disaster management mechanism among ASEAN member states in their application. Still, on the one hand, it strengthens the cohesion of ASEAN member states. The ASEAN Way prohibits any intervention from member states against affected states except at the states’ request with the urgency of collective disaster management. However, cohesion among member states is determined by the behavior of each state, considering the complexity of the influencing factors.\

Keywords: ASEAN, cohesiveness, disaster management