Speaking at the opening ceremony, Mr. Nguyen Hoang Hiep, Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development - Deputy Head of the National Steering Committee for Natural Disaster Prevention and Control, said: 2023 is an important year for the field of natural disaster prevention and control in our country when Vietnam assumes the role of Chair in ASEAN cooperation on natural disaster management.
Therefore, this year's National Week was chosen with the theme "From response to early action" to demonstrate Vietnam's leading role and responsibility in promoting ASEAN cooperation in the field of disaster management - an important content in the socio-cultural cooperation pillar of ASEAN.
According to Deputy Minister Nguyen Hoang Hiep, in recent years, natural disasters in our country have occurred in all regions across the country with an increasing, irregular and fierce trend, causing severe damage to people's lives, property, livelihoods and production, in which children are especially vulnerable.
Over the past 20 years, on average, natural disasters have caused over 300 deaths and missing people each year, with economic losses of 1 - 1.5% of GDP; in 2022 alone, natural disasters occurred abnormally, extremely, and irregularly right from the first months of the year and in all regions of the country with 21/22 types of natural disasters, of which 1,072 natural disasters were recorded, causing 175 deaths and missing people, with economic losses of nearly 19,500 billion VND (1.6 times higher in human losses and 3.4 times higher in economic losses compared to 2021).
The Central region in general, and Quang Nam province in particular, have suffered from heavy rains and floods in recent years, accompanied by natural disasters such as floods, flash floods, landslides, etc., causing serious damage to people and property.
In 2022, Quang Nam province suffered from unseasonal heavy rains in late March and early April; 3 consecutive storms made landfall and floods followed, especially storm No. 4 (Noru) reaching the strongest intensity of level 14-15, gusting to level 17, almost reaching super typhoon level in the East Sea, weakening rapidly and making landfall directly in Da Nang - Quang Nam on September 28...
Mr. Nguyen Hoang Hiep acknowledged and commended the continuous efforts of the Steering Committee for Natural Disaster Prevention, Control and Search and Rescue of the provinces, especially Quang Nam province, in leading, directing, mobilizing the participation of the entire political system and the active participation of the people, synchronously implementing natural disaster prevention and control activities in all 3 stages of prevention, response and overcoming consequences, effectively promoting the motto "4 on-site" in natural disaster prevention and control.
In addition to the rally, the series of events responding to the National Week for Natural Disaster Prevention and Control 2023 in Quang Nam also includes activities such as: Training for staff in charge of Youth Union and Team work of secondary schools in the province on organizing extracurricular activities on natural disaster prevention and control in schools; Golden bell contests "Preventing and fighting natural disasters with me - Building a sustainable future"; Painting contest responding to the year Vietnam assumes the role of chair in ASEAN cooperation on natural disaster management launched for secondary school students in Hoi An city.
These are very useful activities, contributing to spreading messages about disaster prevention and climate change to the community, especially children.
Responding to the National Week of Natural Disaster Prevention and Control, Vice Chairman of the People's Committee of Quang Nam province Ho Quang Buu - Deputy Head of the Provincial Steering Committee for Natural Disaster Prevention and Control and Search and Rescue hopes that the Departments, branches, and authorities at all levels in the province will pay more attention, continuously improve the capacity of natural disaster prevention and control management, and minimize damage caused by natural disaster risks in the sectors and fields under their management.
Especially in the education sector, it is important to integrate disaster prevention content into the curriculum and extracurricular lessons to disseminate knowledge to students, so that each student can develop proactive response skills appropriate to their age, and at the same time, they can be active propagandists in their families and society about disaster prevention and control; thereby contributing to building a safe and sustainable community against natural disasters.
Mr. Ho Quang Buu suggested that agencies, unions, authorities at all levels, social organizations, news agencies and newspapers in the province strengthen information and communication work; raise awareness and responsibility in natural disaster prevention and control; prepare response plans for natural disasters in 2023; at the same time, provide guidance to improve knowledge and skills on prevention, response and overcoming consequences of natural disasters for the community, focusing on vulnerable groups.
He also requested local authorities at all levels, relevant departments and sectors to fully implement relevant contents on ensuring water security and safety of dams and reservoirs by 2030, with a vision to 2045; with the general goal of ensuring the quantity and quality of water for people's lives in all situations; meeting the water use needs for production and business of all sectors and fields, especially important and essential economic sectors; all people and all subjects have access to and use water fairly and reasonably.
At the same time, proactively store, regulate, exploit and effectively use water resources while ensuring the safety of dams and reservoirs; effectively respond to disasters and natural disasters related to water, adapt to climate change; protect the environment, overcome the degradation, depletion and pollution of water resources.
Responding to the National Week for Natural Disaster Prevention and Control, Ms. Rana Flowers - UNICEF Representative in Vietnam said that the key to managing the impact of natural disasters is to focus on collective action - before disasters occur - ensuring early forecasting of severe weather; ensuring early action and readiness.
That also means taking action today to do everything possible to stop the progression of climate change - acting together, calling together, changing the way we do things for a green, clean and safe Vietnam for every child, every citizen.
That means ensuring the right services and support are in place so that when a disaster strikes, there is an immediate response – preventing deaths and outbreaks, providing safe shelter, helping people get back to normal – getting children back to school, helping them overcome trauma and mental health challenges.
Ms. Rana Flowers also shared important messages to create a safer, greener and cleaner world for all children, including: Safety first; Green and clean; A safe, green and clean ASEAN.
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