Vietnam encourages communal engagement in disaster risk reduction

Promoting people’s role and involvement is the most important factor to minimize disaster impacts, Deputy Prime Minister Trinh Dinh Dung stated at a conference held in Hanoi on October 13 to mark International Day for Disaster Reduction.

Damaging rains and floods hit ​Hoa Binh province over the past three days. (Photo: VNA)

Organised by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) and the World Bank (WB), the event dew the participation of over 200 delegates from ministries, agencies, and international and local organisations. Participants discussed integrated disaster risk management and resilience capacity improvement for agriculture amid climate change.

Deputy PM Dung said synergies are needed and attention should be paid to long-term scientific solutions, such as residential planning, infrastructure development and climate-change-adaptation farming models.

The country also has to examine and complete its regulations related to the prevention and mitigation of disaster risks, he noted.

He stressed Vietnam welcomes resources donated by businesses and the community to tackle the challenge, and is willing to create the most possible conditions for effective implementation of disaster risk reduction activities.

According to Nguyen Xuan Cuong, MARD Minister and Chairman of the Central Committee for Natural Disaster Prevention, disaster risk management should also be included in socio-economic development plans of localities and agencies.

 “The Government of Vietnam has already made considerable efforts to respond to climate disaster risks but still more needs to be done. Natural disasters can undo decades of development and the costs of rebuilding can be more than the costs of investment in disaster resilience,” WB acting Country Director in Vietnam Achim Fock said in a WB press release.

As heard at the function, Vietnam faced several key challenges in disaster risk management. They included institutional fragmentation, ineffective processes for coordinated sectoral planning, and the absence of a cost-effective strategy for financial protection.

Participating experts said Vietnam can mitigate natural disaster risks by implementing an integrated disaster risk management strategy.

Vietnam is highly prone to natural disasters, with over 70 percent of the country’s population exposed to risks from natural hazards. Over the past two decades, disasters in Vietnam have caused more than 13,000 deaths and property damage estimated to surpass 6.4 billion USD.

(Source: VNA)