Hanoi (VNA) – Measures to mitigate impacts of natural disasters and climatechange on children were discussed at a conference jointly held by the CentralSteering Committee for Disaster Prevention and Control and the United NationsChildren’s Fund (UNICEF) in Hanoi on May 18.

Participantsalso shared knowledge and experience in children-oriented disaster riskmitigation, while seeking ways to intensify cooperation in this field.

Basedon the outcomes of a national conference on children-oriented disaster riskmitigation held in the central province of Ninh Thuan in December 2016, thisconference continued promoting cooperation within the framework of the Law onDisaster Prevention and Control, Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Mitigationand sustainable development goals.

Ministerof Agriculture and Rural Development Nguyen Xuan Cuong, head of the centralsteering committee, said that Vietnam annually suffers a variety of naturaldisasters which cause huge asset and human losses.

In2016, disasters left 264 people dead or missing, and 431 others injured, causingan economic loss of 39.7 trillion VND (1.74 billion USD).

UNICEFChief Representative Youssouf Abdel-Jelil said that climate change impacts areunavoidable, but the Sendai framework gives priority to investing in reducingthe impacts on children at their early ages as this is an important period fortheir development.

Decreasingvulnerability of children is a long-term strategy to improve the community’sresilience, he said, calling on the Vietnamese Government and its developmentpartners to maintain investment in children-oriented disaster risk mitigation.

SinceAugust 2016, the UNICEF and the Vietnamese Government have provided emergencyaid for children and women hit by drought and saline intrusion in 10 provincesof the Central Highlands, the coastal south central region and the Mekong Deltasourcing from the Japanese government and the CERF.

Nearly140,000 Vietnamese people have benefited from the effort.-VNA