Brunei's National Disaster Management Centre (NDMC) was assigned to help organize the donations as contributions from the local community to the Humanitarian Fund for victims of Typhoon Haiyan and the deadly earthquake on Oct. 15 in Bohol, the Philippines, continued to come in to help reduce the burden faced by the Philippines authorities.

As part of the initiatives by the Brunei government to fulfill the ASEAN Agreement on Disaster Management and Emergency Response (AADMER), NDMC has organized and ensured the delivery of donations that include dried food and clean drinking water to the affected areas since Nov. 15.

Brunei has donated 8,300kg of rice and 33,500 bottles of water (500ml) to the victims.

The AADMER, which came into force in 2009, is a proactive regional framework for cooperation, coordination, technical assistance and resource mobilization in all aspects of disaster management. It also affirms ASEAN's commitment to the Hyogo Framework of Action (HFA) and is the first legally-binding HFA- related instrument in the world.

Meanwhile, local leading manufacturer and distributor of ice cream and beverages Kingston Beverage and Creamery Sdn Bhd has donated 20,000 packets of Indofood Sarimi Instant Noodles and 12, 000 cans of Sunny Soya Bean for the victims of the Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines through the aid of the Philippine Embassy in Brunei on Wednesday. Malcolm Lim, managing director of Kingston, handed over the donations to Nestor Ochoa, the Philippines Ambassador in Brunei.

Last Friday, the Royal Brunei Air Force (RBAirF)'s CN-235 airlifting essential supplies such as food, water, clothing and medical supplies took off from the Rimba Airforce Base on Friday, while a Royal Brunei Navy (RBN) vessel carrying aid departed the same day from the Muara Navy Base for the typhoon-devastated Philippines region of Tacloban.