Japanese experts shared experiences with Ho Chi Minh City in how to cope with natural disasters, laying emphasis on infrastructure development and urban planning as the best solutions to mitigate impacts on urban areas.

At a seminar held by the Japanese Executive Committee for Japan-Vietnam Friendship Year and the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) in Ho Chi Minh City on September 11, the experts also suggested building observatories using wireless communications and solar energy to ensure their stable operation in emergencies.

Regarding urban planning, they proposed turning HCM City into a nuclear urban area based on its geographic location in the centre of the southern key economic region, the southern east-west corridor and the Mekong region.

The network of ring roads and centripetal roads in the city should be expanded, along with routes linking the city with the Mekong Delta and the central southern regions as well as with Cambodia. At the same time, HCM City should pay attention to building urban railways for the development of its suburbs, the Japanese experts said.

Along this direction, Japan has partnered with the city to carry out several important projects such as the HCM City-Long Thanh-Dau Giay Expressway, the East-West Highway, urban railway routes and a terminal at the Tan Son Nhat International Airport.

At the seminar, Vietnamese experts analysed the scenario for the Mekong Delta region in the face of climate change and rising sea level.

Dr. Tran Anh Tuan from the Ministry of Construction said that there are about 55 cities and towns located in flood-prone areas in the Mekong Delta, where over 50 percent of its acreage and population are living with floods for between 3-6 months each year. He said the ministry will study Japan’s experiences in natural disaster control with a view to applying them to this region.

The twin natural disasters in Japan on March 11, 2011 left 18,550 people dead and missing, destroyed 130,000 houses and forced the evacuation of 470,000 people.

The massive earthquake and tsunami also caused total economic losses of 19.9 trillion JPY (roughly 198.4 billion USD) and various difficulties. However, the Japanese people have rapidly reconstructed the country, partly thanks to their rich experience in national disaster prevention. In the reconstruction process, Japan received 122 billion JPY (1.22 billion USD) worth of aid from the international community, of which Vietnam donated 13.9 million USD.

The seminar, themed “Recovery after the great earthquake in Japan and safe urban planning in Vietnam” was an activity in the Vietnam-Japan Friendship Year 2013.-VNA