Vietnam faces a high risk of natural disasters. According to statistics, in the period of 1990 – 2009, Vietnam ranked fifth among nations with the highest percentage of casualties and property damage caused by disasters. For 20 years, disasters have cost Vietnam from 1.0 to 1.5 percent of its GDP on average (based on purchasing power parity). This information was released at the opening ceremony of the second phase of the project “Institutional Capacity Building for Disaster Risk Management in Vietnam, particularly climate change related risks” funded by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID).
The project has been officially launched and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development is in charge to coordinate with the Vietnam Red Cross Society, the Vietnam Women’s Union and Oxfam Vietnam in the implementation in the four year period (2012 – 2016).
According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, the project has long-term goals, including building and monitoring strategy implementation, mechanism and inter-sectoral resources to support multilateral agreement implementation and propose efficient solutions for decreasing disaster risk and responding to climate change.
In the short-term goals toward 2016, the project targets to enhance disaster risk management capacity of the Standing Office of Steering Committee for Flood and Storm Control, provincial Steering Committees for Flood and Storm Control and relevant institutions within the project’s scopes. Especially, the project also helps to improve capacity of responding to climate change and applying early recovery measures in the context of climate change.
Apart from strengthening policy framework, strategy and policies in field of mitigating disaster risk, project also supports dependent provinces, cities planning, organising implementation, monitoring and evaluating the “Enhancing public awareness and disaster risk management based on community” project, including gender mainstream, participation of groups vulnerable to disaster in both rural and urban areas. Thence, it will apply archived results from practical activities of mitigating disaster risk and respond to climate change to improve and implement policy, strategy, development plan in national, regional and international levels.
Regarding that, 6,000 communes in 20 most easily affected provinces from disaster, especially risks relating to climate change in Vietnam will be supported by AusAID and UNDP with the amount of US$4.95 million, in which US$4.7 million is from official development assistance (ODA), and US$250,000 is from counterpart fund to manage disaster risk.
According to Mr Nguyen Xuan Dieu, Deputy General Director of the Directorate of Water Resources, current implementation of project will help the Law on Disaster Prevention and Control to launch, which was ratified by the National Assembly on June 19.
The project will enhance capacity of central and provincial authorities related to legal policies in the scheme to reduce disaster risk. Through the project, 20 provinces vulnerable to natural disaster will elaborate response plans against natural disasters.
Mr Dieu added that UNDP helped the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development implement phase 1 of project “Improving natural disaster risk management in Vietnam, especially risks related to climate change” in the period of 2009 – 2012. Outstanding results are supporting the construction of Law on preventing and resisting natural disasters approved by the National Assembly; establishing 700 national level lecturers on reducing disasters and adapting to climate change. Moreover, community based natural disaster risk management also identifies 6,000 communes vulnerable to climate change and disaster.
Besides, the project also focuses on enhancing capacity for Committee of Science, Technology and Environment of National Assembly, as well as issues Law on preventing and resisting natural disaster along with attached documents, establish and directing National Forum on reducing risk, natural disasters and adapting to climate change, improving an early alarm system to warn about multi disasters in provinces at high risk.
Quynh Chi
Đăng ký: VietNam News
