Hundreds of old people in the Mekong Delta province of TienGiang and surrounding areas joined a meeting in My Tho city on October13 in response to the International Day for Disaster Reduction (IDDR).

TienGiang is one of the three localities in the country (together withcentral Da Nang city and Thanh Hoa province) selected to celebrate theevent, which recognises the vital role of the elderly in implementingthe National Strategy for Natural Disaster Prevention, Response andMitigation towards 2020.

The weather now becomesmore and more complicated and unpredictable, particularly in theMekong River lower section, said Bui Quang Huy, an official from theNatural Disaster Prevention Centre under the Ministry of Agricultureand Rural Development, at the meeting.

He stressed the need tobuild policies and a legal framework encouraging the elderly to shareexperience in climate change adaptation as they are among the mostvulnerable to natural diasters.

Director of Save theChildren in Japan Ayka Arai underlined the coordination between sectors,localities and international organisations in raising public awarenessof the issue.

With a coastline of 32km, Tien Gianghas always grappled with floods, droughts and seawater intrusions,according to Vice Chairman of the provincial People’s Committee Le VanNghia.

Given the fact, the provincial authoritieshave focused on improving infrastructure and building early warningsystems, while including the disaster risk control in the localsocio-economic development plans, he added.-VNA