Two U.S. Agencies Fund $48M for Anti-Natural Disaster Training in Vietnam

The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Department of Defense (DoD) have so far financed Vietnam a combined $48 million for training for officials, locals, and army officers to respond to natural disasters, an USAID official has said. The figure is comprised of $20 million from the USAID and $28 million from the DoD, said Ms. Christine Gandomi, deputy director of the Program Development Office for USAID/Vietnam, at a workshop in Hanoi on September 17. The workshop, being co-hosted by the Vietnam Disaster Management Authority and the United States Forest Service (USFS), is underway until September 20. At the event, Mr. Tran Quang Hoai, head of the Vietnam Disaster Management Authority, said the authority and the USFS have built a non-project on improving the management capability in natural disaster prevention and control in Vietnam. The non-project, part of the U.S.-ASEAN cooperation in the work, was approved by Vietnam’s Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development. The non-project aims to enhance the natural disaster response management system in Vietnam while strengthening the capability of rapid and professional response to climate change in the country, Mr. Hoai noted. Natural disasters, mostly floods, storms and landslides, killed 181 people in Vietnam last year, left 37 others missing, and caused losses of around VND20 trillion ($858 million). (VOV, VOV, Vietnam Plus)