Brunei: Disaster management reference handbook 2026

This is the CFE-DM Brunei Darussalam Disaster Management Reference Handbook (April 2026), produced by the U.S. Center for Excellence in Disaster Management & Humanitarian Assistance. It is a comprehensive reference document intended to support U.S. and partner military and civilian personnel preparing for deployment, training, or engagement alongside Bruneian disaster responders.

Brunei is a small, wealthy absolute monarchy on Borneo with low overall disaster risk, whose primary hazards — seasonal flooding and landslides — are managed effectively through a well-institutionalized national system anchored by the Disaster Management Order of 2006 and a three-tiered response structure spanning district, national, and international levels. The Royal Brunei Armed Forces play a key supporting role in domestic response, while the country remains an active contributor to regional disaster management through ASEAN frameworks, having deployed to at least six international responses. Despite these strengths, the handbook identifies ongoing structural vulnerabilities including geographic discontinuity between Brunei's two territories, heavy reliance on hydrocarbon revenues and food imports, aging power infrastructure, gaps in public disaster awareness, and growing coastal flood risks linked to climate change.