A search and rescue delegation from Vietnam has concluded its month-long visit to the US with a view to sharing experiences in both pre- and post- natural calamities missions.
During its stay from September 7 to October 6, the delegation, led by Lieut. Gen. Nguyen Duc Soat, Permanent Deputy Chairman of the National Search and Rescues Committee, had working sessions with relevant agencies in Hawaii State, Washington D.C. and the Louisiana State.
In Hawaii, the delegation held talks with the Centre of Excellence in Natural Disaster Relief Charity (COE) and the Anti-Natural Calamity Centre under the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), visited the Centre on Storm and Tsunami Warning in the Pacific Region, and met with the US Pacific Commander Admiral William Fallon.
In Washington D.C., the Vietnamese guests exchanged experiences with the leaderships of rescue and emergency agencies of the Defence Department, the FEMA, and officers of the coastal guards and a sapper division in charge of dyke management.
They also paid field trips to New Orleans in the Louisiana State, which was worst devastated by Hurricane Katrina in 2005, and shared experiences in overcoming the disaster aftermath with relevant federal and local agencies.
In these meetings, the Vietnamese rescue officials raised proposals for cooperation in exchanging and providing information of typhoons and tsunami as well as in training professional rescuers.
Vietnam's central coast was recently hit by violent Typhoon Xangsane on October 1 and 2, which killed dozens of people and injured hundreds while leaving hundreds of thousands of families homeless.
