A woman moves on a boat down a flooded street in central Vietnam following the passing of Typhoon Ketsana on October 2

Vietnam is one of the world’s top ten countries in the frequency of natural disasters it faces every year, Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai told a national forum on climate change in Hanoi on Wednesday.

Since the beginning of this year alone, 292 people have died and gone missing in natural disasters while losses has been estimated at some VND24 trillion (US$1.35 billion), the deputy prime minister noted.

The statistics include the losses of VND14 trillion ($785 million) and 163 deaths wrought by the latest typhoon Ketsana which lashed central Vietnam on October 1.

“Vietnam will be affected much more by climate change,” Hai said.

In response to the increasing threats posed by climate change, the government has approved a national program to improve disaster preparedness and mitigation measures by 2020, Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Dao Xuan Hoc told the Vietnam National Forum on Disaster Risk Reduction and Climate Change Adaptation.

The VND215-trillion-plus ($12.05 billion) program includes 36 projects which will be conducted in two stages: from 2009 to 2015, and from 2016 to 2020.

The projects will focus on raising community awareness about natural disasters through education, including introducing it into academic curricula.

In related news, the US government has allocated an additional $500,000 in emergency assistance to Ketsana victims in Vietnam bringing the total to $600,000, according to a statement posted on the embassy website on Wednesday.

A disaster assistance expert from US Agency for International Development is also cooperating with Vietnamese and US officials and other partners to determine the most pressing relief needs at affected areas, it said.

Source: Thanh Nien, Agencies