Thua Thien-Hue (VNA) – A conference was held in the central province of Thua Thien-Hue on December 18 to review a project on improving resilience to climate change in the religious community, and set orientations until 2030. 

Initiated by the Ham Long Research and Support Centre for Social Work, the project was funded by the Nordic Assistance to Vietnam organisation and the Bread for the World in Vietnam at a total cost of 200,000 EUR, and carried out in Hanoi, Hai Phong, Thua Thien-Hue and Ho Chi Minh City from 2016-2019. 

It aims to enhance disaster prevention and control as well as emergency response in Vietnam; link up authorities, social organisations and communities together to build a strategy to cope with disasters. 

Over the past three years, 75 communication campaigns have been held with nearly 12,000 people taking part. 

Apart from being equipped with rescue tools, hundreds of rescue team members in cities and provinces were enabled to improve their knowledge about environmental protection and disaster risk management via training courses. 

Seven religious establishments were upgraded into disaster-proof shelters and community houses while 70 households and 300 children received emergency aid during and after disasters during the period. 

Vietnam is one of the five countries hardest hit by climate change due to long coastline and low-lying plains. 

If the sea water level rises by 1m in the next decades, about 40 percent of the Mekong Delta area, 11 percent of the Red River Delta and 3 percent of coastal provinces in Vietnam are forecast to be inundated./.