Recurrent floods, earthquakes, volcanoes, and seasonal typhoons, as well as limited government response capaci-ty in some countries, present significant challenges to vul-nerable populations in the East Asia and Pacific (EAP) region. Between Fiscal Year (FY) 2002 and FY 2011, USAID’s Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance (USAID/OFDA) and USAID’s Office of Food for Peace (USAID/FFP) have provided humanitarian assistance in response to a diverse range of natural and complex emer-gencies in the region, including cyclones in Burma and the Philippines; earthquakes in China, Indonesia, and New Zealand; floods in Cambodia, Thailand, and Vietnam; and tsunamis in Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Thailand, and Samoa; as well as the complex crisis in East Timor.
Between FY 2002 and FY 2011, USAID provided more than $295 million in disaster response assistance in EAP. USAID/OFDA assistance included nearly $133 million for programs in health, nutrition, protection, agriculture and food security, livelihoods, humanitarian coordination, shel-ter, and water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH), as well as logistics and relief commodities. USAID/FFP assistance included approximately $162 million in emergency food aid.
In the last decade, USAID deployed multiple humanitarian response teams to the region, including six Disaster Assis-tance Response Teams (DARTs). A multi-country DART responded to the December 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami in Indonesia and Thailand. DARTs also deployed to Indo-nesia for earthquakes in FY 2006 and FY 2010, as well as to Burma after Cyclone Nargis in FY 2008. Most recently, in FY 2011, DARTs deployed to New Zealand and Japan in response to earthquakes and a tsunami. USAID has also activated multiple Washington, D.C.,-based Re-sponse Management Teams to support DART coordina-tion and response efforts.