Hanoi (VNA) – Promoting people’s role and involvement is the mostimportant factor to minimize disaster impacts, Deputy Prime Minister Trinh DinhDung stated at a conference held in Hanoi on October 13 to mark InternationalDay for Disaster Reduction.

Organisedby the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) and the World Bank(WB), the event dew the participation of over 200 delegates from ministries, agencies,and international and local organisations. Participants discussed integrateddisaster risk management and resilience capacity improvement for agricultureamid climate change.

DeputyPM Dung said synergies are needed and attention should be paid to long-termscientific solutions, such as residential planning, infrastructure developmentand climate-change-adaptation farming models.

Thecountry also has to examine and complete its regulations related to theprevention and mitigation of disaster risks, he noted.

Hestressed Vietnam welcomes resources donated by businesses and the community totackle the challenge, and is willing to create the most possible conditions foreffective implementation of disaster risk reduction activities.

Accordingto Nguyen Xuan Cuong, MARD Minister and Chairman of the Central Committee forNatural Disaster Prevention, disaster risk management should also be includedin socio-economic development plans of localities and agencies.

 “The Government of Vietnam has already madeconsiderable efforts to respond to climate disaster risks but still more needsto be done. Natural disasters can undo decades of development and the costs ofrebuilding can be more than the costs of investment in disaster resilience,” WBacting Country Director in Vietnam Achim Fock said in a WB press release.

Asheard at the function, Vietnam faced several key challenges in disaster riskmanagement. They included institutional fragmentation, ineffective processesfor coordinated sectoral planning, and the absence of a cost-effective strategyfor financial protection.

Participatingexperts said Vietnam can mitigate natural disaster risks by implementing anintegrated disaster risk management strategy.

Vietnamis highly prone to natural disasters, with over 70 percent of the country’spopulation exposed to risks from natural hazards. Over the past two decades,disasters in Vietnam have caused more than 13,000 deaths and property damageestimated to surpass 6.4 billion USD. -VNA