Officials of government ministries and agencies gathered in Hanoi on May 18 for a conference on how to coordinate their work to improve the emergency response capacity of Vietnam.

The conference was sponsored by the Asia Disaster Preparedness Centre (ADPC), the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and the American Red Cross.

Participants said that Vietnam has over the recent past been hit more frequently and severely by natural calamities, which cause enormous damage in human lives and assets.

In addition, the globalisation process has given rise to the possibility of diseases being transmitted faster, including the deadly bird flu H5N1 and the type A/H1N1 flu.

They said concerted measures to improve the general capacity to prepare for and respond to disasters are extremely needed and must be community-based. They include training to improve the public awareness; organising volunteers’ groups for disaster-prevention and search-and-rescue at localities; setting up early warning systems and stepping up disaster rehearsals.

The meeting drew participation of officials from the Ministries of Defence, Public Security, Agriculture and Rural Development, Health, Education and Training and Labour, War Invalids and Social Affairs, as well as representatives from the national steering committees on prevention and control of flood and storm, and human influenza pandemic; the national committee for Search and Rescue and the National Administration of Hydrography and Meterology.

The Vietnam Red Cross (VRC) has been selected to join the ADPC’s programme on improving the emergency response capacity phase III from 2009-2014.

VRC Vice President cum Secretary General Doan Van Thai said this is a good opportunity for the local red cross society to improve its response activities, which is one of the major content in the VRC’s strategy until 2015 and a vision to 2020./.