(VOV) - The Vietnam Red Cross (VRC) and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) signed an agreement in Hanoi on February 28 to implement a community-based disaster management project.
The project will be carried out until 2020 in 6,000 communes and villages that are frequently hit by natural disasters.
It will focus on raising the awareness and capacity of local people and managers for disaster mitigation, creating training materials and plans, and sharing information about natural disaster prevention and control.
At the signing ceremony, the VRC introduced a set of documents on disaster response that was prepared by the VRC with support from the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Society and the Spanish Red Cross.
The documents outline comprehensive and united processes used for emergency relief and identify the role and responsibility of every VRC chapter at the grassroots level.
Vietnam is one of several countries that will be most seriously affected by climate change and rising sea levels. Natural disasters have already caused huge losses of lives and property and the VRC is the first responder providing relief for victims and helping them in the post-disaster period.