UN conference hears Vietnam know-how in disaster risk reduction

(VOV) -Vietnamese Vice President Nguyen Thi Doan shared her country’s experience in mitigating the risk of natural disasters at the 3rd UN World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction on March 14 in Sendai city of Japan.

Vietnam has witnessed a significant reduction of 8% in the number of deaths or missing and 17% in injuries caused by natural calamities over the past five years thanks to improvements to the legal framework and the national steering committee for natural disaster prevention, she said. 

She expressed her sympathies over huge losses of hit-countries such as the earthquake-tsunami disaster in Japan and the super typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines.

She underlined the need to build a system of legal documents clearly stipulating the missions and responsibilities before, during and after natural disasters; set up a competent management and direction apparatus; and mobilise financial sources from the State and the community. 

She suggested building concrete plans in the community in coping with natural disasters as well as increasing the application of science and technology in catastrophe evaluation and forecast. 

The State official called upon the UN and the international community to further support vulnerable developing countries to improve their capacity of warning, forecasting, and evaluating the risk of natural disasters. 

She advocated the conference to reach a global new framework in the field after 2015. 

On the margin of the event, Vice President Nguyen Thi Doan met with the Japanese Emperor Akihito and his spouse who thanked Vietnam for supporting Japan after the 2011 earthquake and tsunami. 

She later talked with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe who pledged to continuously assist Vietnam in socio-economic development, preventing and addressing the consequences of natural disasters, and coping with climate change. 

The Vice President also met with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and Administrator of the UN Development Programme (UNDP) Helen Clark, during which she sincerely thanked the UN for its support for Vietnam to realise the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), especially in poverty alleviation, gender equality, and climate change adaptation. 

Ban Ki-moon and Helen Clark lauded Vietnam’s participation in the conference, saying the country has good experience in natural disaster mitigation. 

They congratulated Vietnam on fulfilling most of the MDGs; leading in the initiative “One United Nations”; and joining the UN peace-keeping mission in South Sudan.
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