(VOVworld) - The 2013 ASEAN Disaster Emergency Response Simulation Exercise (Ardex-13) opened in Ba Vi district, Hanoi, on Wednesday to practise precautionary measures and emergency response coordination and rescue operations at the regional level. The exercise will require close, effective cooperation among ASEAN states in responding to natural disasters big enough to overwhelm a single country’s response capacity.

Firemen control a fire caused by a mock typhoon. (Photo: VGP)

The exercise involves 10 ASEAN members and observers from Japan, China, South Korea, Australia, the US, the UN, and other international organizations, with 2,000 personnel and tons of emergency response vehicles and equipment.

Ardex-13 is the biggest-ever natural disaster response rehearsal staged in Vietnam.