Malaysia's proposal for a Southeast Asian disaster relief centre has been endorsed by its key regional military partners, Defence Minister Najib Razak said here today.

"It is imperative for us to have a contingency plan and for us to prepare ourselves better," Najib told reporters after attending a meeting of defence ministers from the Five Power Defence Arrangements (FPDA).

Najib had suggested the idea of a regional relief centre in an address to an international security conference in Singapore that ended yesterday.

"The ministers agree that we should assign our officials to come up with a document to spell out how we can increase the effectiveness of our participation in humanitarian disaster relief operations," he said.

Defence ministers from the FPDA - Australia, Singapore, Malaysia, New Zealand and Britain - voiced support for the proposal, Najib said.

He said that "when a disaster happens, if you don't have a proper plan, you can be the most powerful nation on earth yet you still have problems in delivering assistance to the victims."

No decision on centre's headquarters

Southeast Asia is home to more than 500 million people living in a region plagued by natural disasters, most recently the May 27 earthquake in Indonesia that left some 5,800 dead and many more injured and homeless.

The FPDA was founded in 1971 to help protect Singapore and Malaysia but has since evolved into a military cooperation group.

No decision has been made on where the centre would be based, Najib said, adding that getting the plan implemented was more critical as natural disasters could strike at any time without warning.

"The more important thing is for us to have a proper plan of action and for us to be prepared for it," Najib said.