U.S. Pacific Command Opens Disaster Control Center in Vietnam Province

Authorities in Vietnam’s province of Quang Nam have put into operation an anti-disaster center funded by the U.S. Pacific Command, extending support to disadvantaged people in the central region, the hardest-hit region by natural calamities in the Southeast Asian country. Kicked of in July 2014, the two-storey center, which is equipped with a solar energy system and a 30kVA power generator, will improve Quang Nam’s capacity in coping with disasters in the context that weather and climate change have become worse, Brigadier General John. E. O’Neil, director for Logistics, Engineering and Security Cooperation under the U.S. Pacific Command, said at the inauguration ceremony recently. This is the first of two anti-disaster centers to be built by the U.S. Pacific Command in Vietnam, the official said. In the coming time, the U.S. Pacific command will continue funding the construction of a junior high school and a health station in the province, he added. U.S. has expanded charity funding in the communist country of Vietnam since the end of the Vietnam War in 1975, mostly after the normalization of the two former foes in 1995. (Tuoi Tre – Youth Mar 4)