Countries in the Asia-Pacific region should beef up cooperation on disaster management, Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said here on Monday.

Susilo made the statement in his opening speech at the Combined Opening Session of the Ministerial Segment of the 62nd Session of the United Nation Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP).

"Let's therefore intensify regional collaboration on disaster management," said Susilo in front of some 600 delegates from 62 countries in the region, who arrived here to attend the session from April 6 to 12 to discuss the enhancement of regional infrastructure development, including disaster management.

The president stressed that the infrastructure development must equally benefit all the concerned sides and improve the quality of people's life, including the poor, especially those in remote rural areas in the region.

"While the tsunami is now behind us, we must not forget our duty to save future generations from another terrible disaster," he added.

More than 220,000 people died in the tsunami on December 26, 2004, partly because of shortage of early warning system.

Source: Xinhua