MANILA, Philippines?Even as the country reels from the devastation wreaked by storms, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo will push for a $5-billion fund to help developing countries recover from disasters spawned by climate change at this week?s summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in Thailand.

Leaders of the 10-member ASEAN, including Ms Arroyo, will gather at the Thai resort of Hua Hin later this week for a summit.

Ms Arroyo?s economic adviser, Albay Gov. Joey Salceda, said she would put forward the creation of an ASEAN adaptation fund to give cash-strapped developing countries? easy access to a pool of funds in times of disasters.

?The President will issue a strong message on this. There should be a parallel structure for an ASEAN adaptation fund,? he said at a Malacañang briefing. ?How can we have strong voice in Copenhagen if we?re not united in our own neighborhood. We should start in our own backyard.?

Salceda said this is similar to the Chiang Mai fund, set up by the 10 ASEAN countries plus China, Japan and South Korea to provide emergency liquidity during a financial crisis through bilateral-currency swap arrangements.

?At a certain point, we need to have a similar arrangement for disaster and the effects of climate change, so we won?t be scrambling for funds when the need arises,? he said.

Ms Arroyo is scheduled to fly to Thailand on Friday for the two-day summit that kicks off Saturday.

Weather officials had blamed climate change for the unusually heavy rain dumped by Tropical Storms ?Ondoy? and ?Pepeng? that inundated Metro Manila, and triggered heavy flooding and landslides in the rest of Luzon, killing hundreds of people and damaging billions of pesos worth of crops and infrastructure.

Ms Arroyo has ordered the creation of a reconstruction commission to assess the impact of the powerful storms and seek fresh aid, specifically grants, to rehabilitate the country.

Salceda said the toll of climate change on the economy this year could break the average impact it had per year from 2001 to 2008.

?From 2001 to 2008, the average impact of climate change reached .15 percent of GDP (gross domestic product). If we add up all estimate of damage by the typhoons, it may reach .61 percent of GDP this year. This is four times the average from 2001 to 2008,? he said.