The conference, which was organised to introduce Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction and Global Assessment Report on Disaster Risk Reduction 2015, offered a chance for policy-makers and experts to discuss policy implications for Viet Nam.

Kroos Neefjies, Climate Change Policy Advisor to the United Nations Development Programme, said there are 17 things that can be done.

"For example, Viet Nam needs to improve its early warning system so that it can alert the people faster and better, as well as prepare their evacuation more promptly and more quickly."

Secondly, the country should map disaster risks better, he said.

Thirdly, Viet Nam should study more closely and see how it can involve the local population in analysing risks together and decide what actions are needed, he noted.

"Not only women and men but children can also be involved," he said.

Andrew Maskrey from the United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction said the agriculture sector is very important to Viet Nam.

However, Viet Nam will see a high rate of urbanisation over the next 20 years; this means, the country should balance the investments that are going to move from urban areas to rural areas.

It should put in place a system of good urban planning and other resilience measures to ensure a safe future for the country, he stressed.

Dang Quang Minh, deputy director of Disaster Management Centre under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, said that Viet Nam has plans to perfect its policies to implement the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction in coming time.

It has also been encouraging businesses and communities to participate and boost the application of science and technology in disaster risk reduction, he noted.

In March 2015, at the Third World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction in Sendai, Japan, the UN member states adopted a framework to succeed the Hyogo Framework for Action. The new framework will guide countries in their efforts to substantially reduce disaster losses in future.

By September 2015, governments will have agreed on a set of Sustainable Development Goals built on the outcome of the 2012 Rio+20 Conference and the Millennium Development Goals. For the first time, a set of goals will be designed for universal application.

The 2015 Global Assessment Report on Disaster Risk Reduction has assembled compelling evidences to demonstrate that a stronger commitment to disaster risk reduction is critical for the success of all global processes and for achieving synergies between them. 

VNS