Vietnam ’s natural disaster control system has been improved and its model to cope with disasters gets strong supports from the government, said a European Commission (EC) official.

Head of the EC Humanitarian Aid Department (ECHO) Regional Support Office for East and Southeast Asia David Verboom, who has visited the typhoon Ketsana-hit region in Vietnam , spoke at a press briefing in Bangkok on Oct. 7.

He said he was impressed by the fine coordination between relevant agencies, sectors, and local natural disaster control agencies.

According to the official, the EC has been funding a project to cope with and mitigate natural disasters in Vietnam . The project, besides providing aid to victims, also helped set up a network of aid agencies from the central to the local and community levels.

ECHO began its work in Vietnam in 1994. Since then, it has provided 9 million USD to help the country prepare for, and 10 million USD to cope with natural disasters.

On this occasion, the EC also announced that it will provide another 10 million EUR to improve the management of natural disasters in Southeast Asia./.