Vietnam’s efforts in coping with natural disasters were considered a model in cooperative ties with the European Commission (EC).
Steffen Stenberg, Director of Operations of the Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection Department (ECHO) made the statement after his visit to some Vietnamese central provinces to evaluate the effectiveness of its funding projects in the field of coping with natural disasters.
At a press conference in Hanoi on June 21, Stenberg said that in the face of severe losses caused by Ketsana and Myrinae typhoons in 2009, ECHO gave five million EUR in emergency assistance to provide disaster-hit areas with food, clean water, and schools and small clinics rehabilitation.
ECHO is disbursing 1.4 million EUR in humanitarian aid to help those in the central region affected by strong rains last November stabilise their lives.
Stenberg said that he was very impressed with local authorities and community’s outcomes of coping with and minimising the impact of natural disasters in the central region, from the provinces of Quang Tri to Thua Thien Hue.
The commitment of local authorities, awareness and participation of the community were extremely important factors bringing success to ECHO-funded projects, Stenberg said.
He affirmed that the EC would expand humanitarian aid to vulnerable victims in disaster-hit regions and increase assistance to Vietnam from 2012 to 2013 in the field of natural disaster mitigation.
Additionally, the EC would give its priority to follow the National Programme on Community Based Disaster Risk Reduction, through which Vietnam can rely on people and resources to deal with consequences of disasters, he added.
Since 1994, the EC, through ECHO, had provided 30.4 million EUR in humanitarian aid to help Vietnam manage and deal with natural disasters./.
Steffen Stenberg, Director of Operations of the Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection Department (ECHO) made the statement after his visit to some Vietnamese central provinces to evaluate the effectiveness of its funding projects in the field of coping with natural disasters.
At a press conference in Hanoi on June 21, Stenberg said that in the face of severe losses caused by Ketsana and Myrinae typhoons in 2009, ECHO gave five million EUR in emergency assistance to provide disaster-hit areas with food, clean water, and schools and small clinics rehabilitation.
ECHO is disbursing 1.4 million EUR in humanitarian aid to help those in the central region affected by strong rains last November stabilise their lives.
Stenberg said that he was very impressed with local authorities and community’s outcomes of coping with and minimising the impact of natural disasters in the central region, from the provinces of Quang Tri to Thua Thien Hue.
The commitment of local authorities, awareness and participation of the community were extremely important factors bringing success to ECHO-funded projects, Stenberg said.
He affirmed that the EC would expand humanitarian aid to vulnerable victims in disaster-hit regions and increase assistance to Vietnam from 2012 to 2013 in the field of natural disaster mitigation.
Additionally, the EC would give its priority to follow the National Programme on Community Based Disaster Risk Reduction, through which Vietnam can rely on people and resources to deal with consequences of disasters, he added.
Since 1994, the EC, through ECHO, had provided 30.4 million EUR in humanitarian aid to help Vietnam manage and deal with natural disasters./.
