Society

UNDP campaign helps build flood-resilient houses in central Vietnam

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Dan Tri newspaper, and the Vietnam Fund for Promoting Education on February 5 officially launched a crowdfunding campaign entitled “Safe Houses Save Lives” with the aim of building 100 new storm- and flood-resilient houses for poor and near-poor families in the coastal province of Quang Binh.
UNDP campaign helps build flood-resilient houses in central Vietnam ảnh 1Caitlin Wiesen, UNDP Resident Representative in Vietnam, speaks at the event (Photo courtesy of UNDP)
Hanoi (VNA) - The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), DanTri newspaper, and the Vietnam Fund for Promoting Education on February 5officially launched a crowdfunding campaign entitled “Safe Houses Save Lives”with the aim of building 100 new storm- and flood-resilient houses for poor andnear-poor families in the coastal province of Quang Binh.

The two-year campaign is part of a broader UNDP effort tosupport government response and recovery work in central Vietnam. In the firstphase from now to April 2021, the campaign is focused on helping vulnerablefamilies living in Quang Binh province.

In her opening remarks, Caitlin Wiesen, UNDP ResidentRepresentative in Vietnam, stressed the importance of ensuring that society’smost vulnerable are not left behind as the central region recovers from theimpacts of floods and storms.

“We believe that the more resilient houses are built, theless people will suffer from loss and damages when storms and floods strike,and the more quickly they will be able to rebuild their lives and livelihoods.”

Critically, with safe homes and protected property, the less people will needemergency support in the future. It is estimated that 100,000 resilient housesare needed to meet the demand of vulnerable households in typhoon-prone coastalareas. “With joined up action, we believe the goal can be achieved. We inviteall partners to join with us to build more storm-resilient houses to ensurethat no one is left behind,” said Wiesen.

At the event, Pham Huy Hoan, Director of the Vietnam Fundfor Promoting Education, said, “I believe that this cooperation will bringabout positive results, so that the domestic and foreign communities join handsto help Vietnamese people reduce the damage caused by natural disasters andhelp them stabilize their lives."

So far, more than 3,400 low cost ‘resilient houses’ have already been built bya joint Green Climate Fund (GCF)-UNDP-Government of Vietnam project since 2018including more than 700 in Quang Binh.

The resilient houses have been specifically engineered toinclude special features such as flood-proof floor that is 1.5m above thehighest flood level to provide a safe refuge from rising floodwaters andstrongly reinforced roofs that can withstand typhoon-strength winds. Theyproved their effectiveness during the severe floods and storms of 2020, whenthey saved the lives and livelihoods of not only their owners, but in somecases other members of the community as well. Their success garnered attentionfrom the media, and they have since been specifically highlighted by thegovernment as a model for wider replication.

During the launching event, the Republic of Korea's non-governmental organisation WorldShare committed a financial donation to UNDP to build 39 homes in Quang Binh provinceas the first contribution towards the campaign. Dan Tri newspaper alsocommitted a donation of 1 billion VND (43,500 USD) at this event.

All information about the crowdfunding campaign, thebeneficiaries, and how to donate is being updated regularly at https://safeforpoor.undp.org.vnand via the Dan Tri e-newspaper./.
VNA
#United Nations Development Programme #UNDP #Vietnam Fund for Promoting Education #Dan Tri #crowdfunding campaign #Safe Houses Save Lives #flood-resilient houses #Quang Binh #Vietnam #Vietnamplus #Vietnam News Agency
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