Japan Donates $1.4M for Disaster Prevention in Vietnam

Japan’s Supporting Industrial Development Organization in Vietnam has granted JPY1.5 million ($1.4 million) to Vietnam’s Central Disaster Prevention Support Fund with an aim to help the Southeast Asian country cope with decade-worst El Nino. Attending the recent donation ceremony is Katsunori Murooka, head of the aforementioned organization, Teruyoshi Kubota, head of Vietnamese economic research institute, Miyoko Kaneko, head of NPO CARNA organization, and Japanese representatives. Mr. Murooka said that the financial supporting is aimed to help ease long-term consequences which Vietnam’s central region is suffering from prolonged droughts. Set up in 2009, the non-governmental Central Disaster Prevention Support Fund pursues the mission of mitigating natural disasters for residents in 14 central coastal cities and provinces. Over the past seven years, the fund has mobilized VND211 billion ($9.3 million) from domestic and foreign donors to finance afforestation, and building houses in flood-prone areas. Vietnam is one of five hardest-hit countries by climate change and the majority of investment in climate resilience projects is sourced outside the country. Since 2009, foreign organizations and countries have financed Vietnam more than $1 billion for disaster prevention projects. (Baodautu.vn May 10)