Ninh Binh (VNA) – Effective disasterprevention models of the Vietnam Red Cross (VRC) were introduced at aconference held in the northern province of Ninh Binh on August 4.

According to Director of the VRC’s disastermanagement department Tran Quoc Hung, the association has carried outcommunity-based natural disaster risk management activities across 36 citiesand provinces, including the evaluation of vulnerability and response capacityfor over 300 communes and wards.

It has also planted over 24,000 hectares ofmangrove and watershed forests in 11 provinces while building more than 27,500houses, one fifth of which are resistant to calamities.

From 2005 to 2015, the association providedemergency aid worth 4.5 trillion VND (198 million USD) for 22.2 million people.

In 2016, the VRC implemented a number ofcooperation projects on natural disaster prevention and response, includingfive with the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and the UNDevelopment Programme (UNDP).

It has one project and a long-term cooperationagreement framework with the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and one mangroveforest planting project sponsored by the Japanese Red Cross Society.

The VRC has focused on building disasterresponse forces at national, provincial and district levels and those based onthe community as well as boosting connectivity with global counterparts.-VNA