The impacts of natural disasters could be mitigated if people living in vulnerable areas get support from businesses for taking advance safety measures.

Residents of Hung Ha Commune in Tan Hung District in the southern province of Long An evacuate during a flood. Businesses are being encouraged to support climate change mitigation efforts.

“When people in disaster-prone areas are equipped with basic knowledge of disaster prevention and infrastructure in the areas is improved, I believed the impacts of [disasters] would be reduced to a minimum,” Dao Xuan Hoc, deputy minister of agriculture and rural development said.

People appreciate the business community’s charity activities in the aftermath of disasters, he said. “But now I call on businesspeople to contribute to preparations through programmes to raise awareness on catastrophic threats, teach children swim, and raise funds for upgrading infrastructure.”

Every year natural disasters kill around 700 people in the country, with the death toll since 1997 at 9,600, and cause losses equal to a fifth of the country’s GPD.

“It’s necessary for businesspeople to partner with vulnerable communities to reduce the impacts [of disasters],” said Tran Ngoc Liem, director of the Viet Nam Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s HCM City chapter.

Huynh Duc Tam, president of the Agricultural Construction Investment and Consultant Co in the Mekong Delta province of Dong Thap, said: “it will be better if businesses can participate at the beginning of the process to draft an overall strategy for disaster mitigation and charity assistance.”

One or two businesses renowned for charitable activities should be nominated at each locality to solicit other businesses to join, he said. “The Government and local authorities should offer them business incentives to enlist others.”

“I need clear strategy of related agencies to set up plan for mass production of buoys,” said Vo Van Hoang Minh from the HCM City Plastic Association, who invented a buoy with floating capacity of 75kg, which can be used instead of lifebuoys.

Minh expected to produce 3,000 buoys for pupils in the delta.

National strategy

Tran Van Binh from the National Agency for Dyke Management and Disaster Control said a national strategy for mitigating the impact of disasters, including action plans, has been in place since 2007.

But it does not spell out the involvement of businesses in disaster prevention.

Hoc said the Government has a national fund for disaster that accepts contributions from businesses.

“Each province should gather businessmen under an association to establish a fund that offers financial support for building schools in flood-prone areas and setting up classes to teach swimming.

“If we can integrate solutions for climate change with disaster mitigation strategies with the participation of businesses, it will be helpful for the sustainable development of society,” Le Thi Xuan Lan of the Southern Hydrographic and Meteorology Forecast Station, said.

VietNamNet/Viet Nam News