Red Cross hosts conference to reflect on 17 years of European Union funding for disaster preparedness in Viet Nam

Hanoi - For the past 17 years, the European Commission’s Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection department (ECHO) has invested nearly 13 million Euros in Viet Nam through its Disaster Preparedness programme DIPECHO, supporting over 6.4 million people in 23 provinces to strengthen their resilience to natural disasters.

In order to review the impact of the partnership, as well as evaluate success and ongoing needs, a conference is being organised on 1st December with all DIPECHO partners, including the Viet Nam Red Cross Society, Spanish and German Red Cross and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.

“Over the past 17 years, ECHO has been a very valuable partner for us,” said Mr Doan Van Thai, Secretary General of the Viet Nam Red Cross Society. “Their investments have enabled us to make a tremendous difference in the lives of many Vietnamese”.
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Since 1998, ECHO has worked with over 20 non-governmental organizations in Viet Nam through 41 different projects that focus on a wide range of issues, from local capacity building to awareness raising, advocacy, the creation of early warning systems, small-scale mitigation actions or education on disasters.

“The impact of our work in partnership with ECHO and other partners was evident during Typhoon Wutip and Nari in 2013,” commented Mr Doan Van Thai. “The disaster response teams were very effective in providing evacuation, relief and recovery support to those affected,” he said.

All ECHO-funded projects were implemented in collaboration with relevant ministries in Vietnam. The National Centre for Disaster Prevention and Control and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development took the lead in enhancing the capacity of the ministries involved, and also strengthen collaboration between the organizations supported by ECHO, and their respective government counterparts.

“Since we started working in Viet Nam, we have witnessed impressive progress in the country’s preparedness to typhoons and floods,” said Mr. Edward Turvill, ECHO’s Disaster Risk Reduction Coordinator for the Asia-Pacific region. “We are proud to have contributed to this process of making communities across the country more resilient, and are confident the government will now continue to take this process forward. We hope to see Viet Nam emerge as a model in Disaster Preparedness for the entire region.”

Some 100 representatives from the Red Cross, non-governmental organizations, relevant ministries and government agencies, mass organizations, embassies and the private sector will be attending the event on 01 December in Hanoi. For more information, or to arrange interviews, please contact:

Ly Nguyen
IFRC communication and reporting officer
Phone: +84 166 2900 769
Email: ly.nguyen@ifrc.org