Quang Tri Vice Chairman Ha Sy Dong holds meeting with FAO, ECHO

Vice Chairman of the Quang Tri Provincial People’s Committee Ha Sy Dong held a meeting with Representative of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in Vietnam Rémi Nono Womdim and Regional Representative for the European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations (ECHO) in the D3 area Valentina Auricchio.

Since 2022, the Department of Dyke Management and Disaster Prevention has collaborated with FAO Vietnam to implement a technical support project titled "Enhancing Capacity and Expanding Early Action with Integration into the Social Protection System."

Overview of the meeting. Photo: TN

The goal is to protect livelihoods, food security, and ensure nutrition for vulnerable households in rural areas by forecasting the impacts of natural disasters. The project applies a unified approach to humanitarian assistance, strengthens governance, and enhances proactive disaster risk reduction efforts in Vietnam.

In Quang Tri, the project has been piloted in 7 communes across 4 districts: Vinh Lam (Vinh Linh District), Gio Mai (Gio Linh District), Cam Hieu (Cam Lo District), Trieu Do and Trieu Trach (Trieu Phong District), and Hai Phong and Hai Hung (Hai Lang District). The activities have contributed to raising awareness and improving the skills of local communities, gradually changing people’s attitudes toward early actions in response to natural disasters such as storms and floods.

Vice Chairman of Quang Tri Provincial People’s Committee Ha Sy Dong stated that disaster prevention is a crucial and ongoing task in the province. The local government and people of Quang Tri have made significant efforts and determined actions to effectively implement disaster prevention, response, and recovery, gradually reducing the damage caused by natural disasters.

However, in recent years, particularly from 2020 to 2024, the impacts of climate change and increasingly complex and irregular disasters have caused significant losses in lives, property, infrastructure, and production, negatively affecting the local economic and social development. Notable examples include the “storm over storm” and “flood over flood” events in 2020, the off-season floods in March 2022, February 2023, and more recently, Typhoons No. 4 and No. 6, as well as the rain and floods from September to November 2024.

Therefore, the implementation of the “Early Action Based on Forecasting Typhoon and Flood Events” activities, funded by ECHO and carried out by FAO since 2022, has been highly relevant and effective. It has contributed to enhancing the disaster prevention capacity of local authorities and communities in the project areas.

The Vice Chairman expressed the province’s desire to continue receiving support from ECHO and FAO in these efforts.

Mr. Rémi Nono Womdim and Ms. Valentina Auricchio thanked the provincial leaders and relevant authorities for their support in implementing the project’s activities in Quang Tri since 2022.

Vietnam is highly vulnerable to the effects of climate change, and improving the preparedness and resilience of households to reduce disaster-related damage, particularly from storms and floods, is a priority for FAO and ECHO. They will continue their support to minimize disaster impacts on households in Quang Tri in the future.

Tien Nhat - Ngoc Mai