New Zealand helps Vietnam respond to natural disasters

The New Zealand Government funded more than US $ 700,000 to help Vinh Long province improve community-based disaster response.

Vinh Long province in the Mekong Delta has always been considered as a region affected by climate change. According to the 2012 Disaster Mitigation Program, up to 7 out of 8 districts in Vinh Long suffer from flooding of more than 1 meter annually, causing direct difficulties for the lives of 350,000 people. Besides, the encroachment of sea water, landslides and plant diseases affect the traditional way of doing business of local people, especially in cultivation and aquaculture.

Photo: dw.de

To cope with this challenge, New Zealand helps the locality through the project "Improving livelihoods to improve community-based disaster response" (LIBRE) . The project, worth nearly 700,000 USD for 4 years (2013-2017), will focus on supporting people to develop sustainable agricultural livelihoods and community-based disaster risk management.

LIBRE project will be implemented in 4 communes Trung Thanh, Hieu Phung and Vinh Xuan, Thich Thien in Vung Liem and Tra On districts, Vinh Long province. These are areas with high poverty rates with a high risk of natural disasters without effective response mechanisms.

Mr. Haike Manning, New Zealand's Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary in Vietnam, said that LIBRE deployed in Vinh Long contributed to harmonizing the goal of improving farmers' livelihood through sustainable agricultural development and management. Community-based disaster risks.

According to a report released yesterday by the New Zealand Embassy, ​​30,000 local people will benefit directly through disaster risk reduction activities, of which 2,000 will benefit from the models. improve livelihoods and credit. The project will give top priority to poor women and households that women face the main work.