2005年12月，印度新德里武装部队主办了“灾害管理——武装部队面临的新挑战”国际研讨会。该研讨会是武装部队应对2004年印度尼西亚地震和海啸吸取经验教训的后续活动。2010年，亚太军事援助救灾行动与军民协调部门在联合国人道主义事务协调办公室的亚太地区办事处组织了一次年度会议，会议致力于针对亚太地区应灾中使用境外军事资产制定合作指导方针。这一系列会议最后产出了《亚太地区自然灾害响应行动使用境外军事资产指导方针》（第8版，2014年10月）
《亚太地区自然灾害响应行动使用境外军事资产指导方针》为成员国部署其武装部队应对国际灾害和人道主义援助需求，提出了自愿性、无约束力的建议，且将亚太地区“救灾中使用境外军事和民防资产”的情况也列入其中。该指导方针不适用于复杂的紧急情况。联合国人道主义事务协调办公室机构间常设委员会对复杂紧急情况有所定义。
境外军事资产的资源仅用于对现有不足资源和能力进行补充，帮助拯救生命，缓解灾害影响。该指导方针预期在所有其他民用救灾资源用尽后再使用境外军事资产响应。任何境外军事资产响应都必须有一定的时间和规模限制，且必须有撤出策略，确定任务成功完成的标准是什么，并以此标准作为撤出的触发因素。该指导方针还指出，协调机制的结构取决于受灾国家的结构和独特环境，提供援助的境外军队需要保持灵活，与现有结构相匹配。根据行动情况，可以选择设立人道主义军事行动综合协调中心，由国家灾害管理办公室领导。在灾害响应中，境外军事资产方面的协调和合作组织架构必须灵活，因为灾后情况具有不可预测性。
《亚太地区自然灾害响应行动使用境外军事资产指导方针》把灾害响应分为三类：直接援助（即“面对面分发物资和提供服务”），间接援助（与民众至少相隔一步，即后勤支持达不到受灾区），以及基础设施支持（便于提供救济的一般性服务，如道路维修、空中交通管制、发电等）。根据《境外军事和民防资产使用指导方针》，境外军事资产的响应通常不提供直接援助，然而，亚太区域的独特情况可能要求对这一限制进行逐案评估。某些情况可能需要境外军事资产的响应提供直接援助。在这种情况下，军队必须向指定为军事力量人道主义联络点的国家机构寻求建议和咨询意见。
通常所有实体的人道主义援助都是通过任务组的方式提供的。这些任务组往往有一个牵头机构，负责确保其具备响应能力和安排到位，并与合作伙伴协作，按照商定的标准和准则开展评估、规划和响应活动。任务组组长还将与联合国人道主义事务协调办公室合作，确保任务组间的协调与合作。
已确定的任务组包括:
这些组织在灾害响应、恢复和重建过程中会提供相应服务。
In December 2005, the Indian Armed Forces in New Delhi hosted an international seminar on "Disaster Management-a New Challenge for the Armed Forces". The seminar was a follow-up to the lessons learned from the Armed Forces' response to the 2004 earthquake and tsunami in Indonesia.In 2010, the Asia-Pacific Military Assistance Disaster Relief Operations and Civil-Military Coordination Unit organized an annual meeting at the Asia-Pacific Regional Office of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs to develop cooperative guidelines for the use of overseas military assets in disaster response in the Asia-Pacific region. This series of meetings culminated in the Guidelines for the Use of Foreign Military Assets in Natural Disaster Response Operations in the Asia-Pacific Region (version 8, October 2014)
The Guidelines for the Use of Foreign Military Assets in Natural Disaster Response Operations in the Asia-Pacific Region provide voluntary, non-binding recommendations for member countries to deploy their armed forces to respond to international disasters and humanitarian assistance needs, and include the use of foreign military and civil defense assets in disaster relief in the Asia-Pacific region. The guidelines do not apply to complex emergencies. The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (Ocha) and the Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC) have definitions of complex emergencies.
The resources of overseas military assets are used only to supplement existing inadequate resources and capabilities to help save lives and mitigate the impact of disasters. The guidelines anticipate the use of overseas military assets to respond after all other civilian disaster relief resources have been exhausted. Any foreign military asset response must be limited in time and size, and there must be an exit strategy that identifies what the criteria are for successful completion of the mission and uses that criteria as a trigger for withdrawal.The guidelines also state that the structure of the coordination mechanism depends on the structure and unique circumstances of the affected country, and that external military forces providing assistance need to remain flexible and match existing structures. Depending on the operation, an integrated coordination centre for humanitarian-military operations may be established, under the leadership of the National Disaster Management Office. The organizational structure for coordination and cooperation with respect to foreign military assets in disaster response must be flexible because of the unpredictable nature of post-disaster situations.
The Guidelines for the Use of Foreign Military Assets in Natural Disaster Response Operations in the Asia-Pacific Region classify disaster response into three categories: direct assistance (i.e., "face-to-face distribution of goods and provision of services"), indirect assistance (at least one step away from the population, i.e., logistical support does not reach the affected area), and infrastructure support (general services that facilitate the provision of relief, including:Uch as road maintenance, air traffic control, power generation, etc.).According to the Guidelines on the Use of Overseas Military and Civil Defence Assets, the response of overseas military assets generally does not provide direct assistance, however, the unique circumstances of the Asia-Pacific region may require a case-by-case assessment of this limitation. Certain situations may require the response of foreign military assets to provide direct assistance. In such cases, the military must seek advice and counsel from the national body designated as the military force's humanitarian point of contact.
Humanitarian assistance is usually provided by all entities through the task force modality. These task forces often have a lead agency responsible for ensuring that response capacity and arrangements are in place and for collaborating with partners to conduct assessment, planning and response activities in accordance with agreed standards and guidelines. The task force leader will also work with the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs to ensure coordination and cooperation among the task forces.
The identified task groups include:
Camp management and coordination-UNHCR and IOM
Early recovery-United Nations Development Programme
Education-UNICEF and Save the Children
Emergency Shelters-UNHCR and IFRC
Emergency Telecommunications-World Food Programme
Food Security-WFP and FAO
Health-World Health Organization
Logistics-World Food Programme
Nutritional Supplements-UNICEF
Protection-UNHCR
Sanitation, water and hygiene-World Children's Fund
These organizations provide services during disaster response, recovery, and reconstruction.
