Manila - An Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) security forum on Monday opened four days of disaster-relief exercises in the Philippines, aimed at boosting cooperation during disasters, such as last year's Cyclone Nargis.

More than 300 disaster and relief workers from 27 member countries of the ASEAN Regional Forum were participating in the exercises, which simulated response to a supertyphoon devastating Manila and nearby provinces.

The activity was the first field exercise undertaken by the 27-member forum since it was set up in 1994.

At the opening of the exercises, Soe Nyunt-U, the World Health Organization's representative to the Philippines, urged ASEAN to hold regular disaster-response exercises, given the frequency of disasters in the region.

"We have to be always prepared in dealing with such major disasters," he said, noting that a number of ASEAN member countries were in the top 10 countries prone to calamities.

Soe said the simulation would help "tune up" collaboration between forum countries, which would in turn ensure that coordination was seamless when disasters strike.

Philippine Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Enrique Manalo also stressed the importance of the exercises.

"The seamlessness and coherence of our interoperability in disaster relief is vital since devastation and damage can go beyond natural and legal borders," he said.

Manalo said the exercises could further develop arrangements for international disaster relief during such calamities as the 2004 tsunami, flashfloods in Bangladesh, the
2008 Sichuan earthquake and Cyclone Nargis in Myanmar.

"It is our hope that whatever intricacies and complexities that might hinder regional humanitarian disaster relief can begin to be addressed through the actual and simulated exercises," he said.

The forum groups ASEAN members - Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and Myanmar - and their security partners, such as the United States, the European Union, China, Japan and South Korea among others. (dpa)