Quang Ninh (VNA) – The National Steering Committee for Natural Disaster Prevention and Control, in coordination with the Australian Embassy in Vietnam and related partners, held a ceremony inresponse to the International Day for Disaster Reduction and ASEAN Day for DisasterManagement at Bai Chay Primary and Secondary School in the northernprovince of Quang Ninh’s Ha Long city on October 13.

The event drew the participation of officialsfrom the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD), representativesof natural disaster prevention and control agencies of ASEAN member states, ASEAN dialogue partners, United Nations agencies, international organisations andmore than 300 students and teachers of the school.

The International Day for Disaster RiskReduction is observed by the United Nations every year on October 13. It isdedicated to fostering awareness about disasters and their impact on living beingsas ꩵwell as to praising individuals and groups working in the field of naturaldisaster prevention and control.

The day is also chosen as ASEAN Day for Disaster Management, aiming to attract theattention of the ASEAN community in this regard and call for international cooperationto join hands to build safe communities and areas that are resilient tonatural disasters.

Inhis remarks at the ceremony, Deputy Minister of Agricultureand Rural Development Nguyen Hoang Hiep emphasised that Vietnam has achieved remarkable resultsin natural disaster prevention and control work.

Heattributed the achievement to the effo♕rts of the Government, ministries, agencies,localities and Vietnamese people as well as valuable assistance from internationalfriends, including the Australian Embassy in Vietnam which has provided muchsupport to the MARD during its term as chair of the ASEAN Committee on DisasterManagement in the past year.

Hiepheld that Vietnam has shown itself as an active and highly reputable member of thebloc, in which ASEAN cooperation on natural disaster management is an importantcontent in the bloc’s socio-cultural community pillar.

The deputyminister said 2023 marks the 20th anniversary of the establishment of the ASEANCommittee on Natural Disaster Management. This is an opportunity tocongratulate the success of the 11th ASEAN Ministerial Meeting on DisasterManagement and "Ha Long Declaration in Early Action in ASEAN Disaster Management”, he added.

Shantanu Chakraborty, Asian Development Bank (ADB) Country Director for Vietnam and Co-Chair of theDisaster Risk Reduction Partnership, said that disaster prevention and combatingrequires the engagement of all countries, not only ASEAN member states but alsoevery person around the world.

He went on to say that ADBalways stands side by side with the Government and people of Vietnam to joinhands in efforts to manage, reౠduce risks, an༒d overcome consequences caused bynatural disasters./.