From earthquakes that struck Myanmar and Northern Thailand to severe tropical storm Wipha and Cyclone Senyar, 2025 brought escalating climate shocks and more frequent disasters across Southeast Asia. ASEAN countries stepped up to the challenge, advancing greater momentum towards collective action with the aim of helping communities across the region weather disaster risk more effectively.
This growing regional consensus was echoed by Prime Minister Lawrence Wong in his LinkedIn post in December 2025, when he expressed deep concern over severe flooding across the region, appreciation for frontline responders, and a reminder that climate change is a shared challenge that respects no borders. This underscores a fundamental truth: climate resilience today is not about if disasters happen, but when — and how quickly countries can recover.
As Ravi Menon, Singapore’s Ambassador for Climate Action, highlighted in his recent interview, adaptation must go hand in hand with financial preparedness. That principle underpins the Southeast Asia Disaster Risk Insurance Facility (SEADRIF) — established by ASEAN+3 finance ministers, with support from Singapore and Japan, and supported by the World Bank. SEADRIF mobilises regional cooperation and private capital to ensure governments can access rapid and reliable financing in the aftermath of disasters, helping reduce both the human and economic toll when crises strike.
At the ASEAN Strategic Policy Dialogue on Disaster Management in August 2025, ASEAN Secretary-General Dr Kao Kim Hourn described SEADRIF as “a key resource for financial resilience against disasters and climate shocks.” SEADRIF is not an external mechanism — it is a regional solution built on collective leadership and trust among ASEAN members, enabling countries to pool risk and protect the most vulnerable. The experience of Lao PDR demonstrates how innovation can make climate insurance simpler and locally led. Under a new policy in 2025, the country received US$2 million within six business days following severe storms and floods — using a pioneering model based on government-reported data to strengthen transparency and alignment with national systems. This followed an earlier payout after Typhoon Yagi in 2024, when Lao PDR received US$3 million to restore essential services for more than half a million people.
These may be early steps, but they show that the region is ready to scale solutions that work. Forthcoming initiatives such as SEADRIF-SAFE (Sovereign Asset and Fiscal Empowerment Facility) aims to embed financial protection directly into public infrastructure projects, ensuring countries can rebuild faster and more sustainably when disasters occur.
As Secretary of Finance Ralph G. Recto of the Philippines noted in October 2025, SEADRIF-SAFE represents “a proactive and united step to protect what truly matters: our people and the public assets they rely on.”
ASEAN leaders are echoing the collective will and determination of communities across the region to measure up to the climate crisis and protect people, livelihoods and our way of life. As we look forward to a year of greater prosperity, stability and collaboration across the region, SEADRIF stands ready to grow the collective safety net and protect Southeast Asia against increased disaster risk.