More than 120 delegates from eighteen provinces, representatives from eight ministries, UN agencies and international NGOs gathered at a workshop on October 18 in Hanoi to discuss how Vietnam can strengthen post-disaster recovery and reconstruction.The workshop was organized by the Vietnam Disaster Management Authority (VDMA) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and is part of global efforts funded by the European Union in partnership with the UNDP and the World Bank to strengthen recovery in countries highly exposed to disasters like Vietnam.
The overview of the workshop
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Head of VDMA Disaster Response Department Nguyen Duc Quang said: “In recent years, the government has invested our disaster management systems, and we have made significant progress through steps like the approval of the Law on Disaster Prevention and Control. However, the global good practice shows that recovery is important, and today’s workshop can help strengthen these systems in Vietnam, particularly the damage and needs assessment after large-scale disasters.”
UNDP has been working closely with VDMA to strengthen the key systems and supporting the impacted provinces, civil society and the Red Cross system for the disaster recovery in Vietnam.
UNDP Senior Technical Advisor Jenty Kirsch-Wood highlighted: “The workshop is a key opportunity to learn from recent experience, and to build recovery systems that are in line with global good practice, but also tailored to the particular needs of Vietnam.”
Director of the Agricultural and Rural Development Department Nguyen Trong Tung from Phu Yen province noted that current systems can be strengthened to help fill key gaps in baseline and recovery data collection, leading to faster and more effective compensation and recovery efforts that are better able reach those most impacted.
“Typhoon Damrey costs VND3,000 billion (US$129 million), which is effectively one year of our province's GDP. The Vietnamese government provided compensation to farmers, but some like shrimp farmers for whom there was no baseline data were not eligible to receive help. One year after the typhoon, recovery and reconstruction work is still ongoing. Today’s workshop can help discuss how we can make the systems more effective,” Tung said.
The workshop reviewed the institutional disaster recovery system of Vietnam, and the operating procedures at the commune, district, province, central levels. Options for strengthening post-disaster needs assessment methodologies for large scale disasters are also considered.
At the workshop, many participants highlighted options to strengthen gender and age disaggregated data collection, and to better clarify the difference between life saving relief, and build-back-better recovery approaches.
They also had an opportunity to share experience, particularly Damrey Typhoon which cost more than 100 lives and heavily impacted shelters, agriculture and livelihoods in the central coastal provinces in November 2017. Results of the workshop will contribute to the updated policies and guidelines that the Government plans to have in place for the next typhoon seasons.
