The beneficiary of the know-how will be Vietnam’s new National Programme on Community-Based Disaster Risk Management, which intends to target the 6,000 most hazard-prone communes by 2020,

“It was gratifying that the Vietnamese government has recognised that such models and approaches have helped save lives of adults and children and reduce the severe impact of disasters on the poorest populations,” the EU official said.

The meeting took place on the heels of the EU’s approval of a strategy to help reduce the impact of natural disasters on countries considered to be at high-risk, including Vietnam. 

According to the European Commission, the EU has granted 10 million Euros to Vietnam through 40 disaster prevention initiatives since 1998.