The project “Building capacity and removing barriers for people with disabilities in learning about Disaster Risk Management through accessible digital information systems” was launched in Vietnam on 12 January 2016. The event was organized at the office of Lift You Up, located in the Centre for Vocational Training and Rehabilitation for the Young Blind in Hanoi. The ceremony was attended by 33 participants representing the project’s donors, disaster risk reduction (DRR) and disability focused organizations; Assistive Technology Development Organizations (ATDO), consultants who will provide technical guidance for the project, and the media.

Through the ceremony, a representative of Malteser International, who was allocated funding from the UPS Foundation provided the overall information such as why Malteser International initiated the project, as well as its duration, intended outcome and relevant activities. Besides, Mr. Hiroshi, Vice Director of the ATDO in Japan, on behalf of the technical consultancy group presented what DAISY is, the benefits of using it with persons having print disabilities, and gave real examples of its application in other parts of the world.

The participants highly appreciated the idea of the project in using DAISY as a technical solution to remove information barriers for people with print disabilities regarding DRR and other social activities. Mr Hoang Moc Kien, a teacher from Nguyen Dinh Chieu school for blind children said “I heard a lot about DAISY and tried to access to it; however, until now I could not. It is great that this project builds Lift You Up’s capacity and provide equipment to start producing DAISY in Vietnam. Our people with disabilities can benefit a lot from this project”.

Following this opening ceremony, a 10 day basic training on Daisy technology transfer will be provided for core Lift You Up members who are the direct beneficiaries of the project.

DRR team

Malteser International in Vietnam

The event included different activities: display of pictures, good case studies, IEC materials, products made by the communities, including the mountainous area of Tay Giang; ceremony for awards of communications and community initiatives. All these activities emphasized on the goal of the 2015 IDDR launched by the United Nation that aim to:

• Raise awareness of the use of traditional, indigenous and local knowledge and practices, to complement scientific knowledge in disaster risk management
• Highlight approaches for engaging local communities and indigenous people in implementation of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction

In 4 hours of the event, through a variety of performances, the community people from different locations, in particularly the people with disabilities clearly showed that they are the one who know the best on how to help themselves to be safe in disasters. Therefore, if the DRR stakeholders give them suitable assistance, they can contribute to the community’s resilience. Ms Chau, Vice Director of Danang Blind Association emphasized this massage in her performance at the event: “In fact, our blinds can join hazard map drawing activities together with sighted people if the disaster risk reduction stakeholders assist us in participating, for instance, explanation of how to draw, description of the drawing process and preparation of some simple materials to enable the blinds to recognize and use”. The blind and deaf initiatives were received 1^st and second prize in the competition among 6 performances.

The representatives from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Department and Ministry of Labours, Invalids and Social Affairs expressed that the community initiatives for disaster risk reduction shown were good and can be duplicated in other provinces. The 2 Ministries will continue their efforts to strengthen the participation of community, especially at risk group in the community based disaster risk reduction. This will help to use in maximize initiatives of the community in disaster risk reduction.  ”

Aprofile of IDRR 2015:

This June, 120 students of 4 primary schools: Nhon Binh No. 1, Nhon Binh No. 2, Hoang Quoc Viet, Hai Cang will take part in swimming classes for students organized by Binh Dinh Chapter collaborating with Quy Nhon Department of Education and Training, funded by German International Cooperation Agency (GIZ) through German Red Cross.

This summer, I am going to learn swimming

From 29^th May to 2^nd June, 30 students of Nhon Binh No.1 Primary School (Nhon Binh ward) focused on learning swimming skills. There were two sessions per day. It lasted one hour for a session. The students were taught and practiced actions such as leg kicking, breathing under water, how to float on water, freestyle stroke and breaststroke techniques… Three teachers guided and took care of the students. Last Mid-May, those teachers were trained swimming techniques and swimming teaching methods by coaches of the provincial Sport Training Centre.

“It is easy to realize that although students in three wards: Nhon Binh, Hai Cang, Thi Nai live near lakes, sea, rivers, most of the children are not able to swim. Their parents are too poor to be really interested in the children’s swimming skills “.

Mr. Nguyen Duc Trinh – Teacher of Nhon Binh No.1 Primary School, one of the three teachers teaching swimming, said that: “During five days, we have tried to help our students familiar with water, practice leg kicking, swimming techniques with the objective that each students can swim continuously from 5 up to 10 meters, float on water surface for 10 minutes at the end of the course.”

According to Mr. Trinh, last summer, a lot of students were learned how to swim within another project. Therefore, although the current course just started, 1/3 of the students could swim about 10 meters. Those other students could float on the water surface and swim about 5 meters by the end of the class.

Huynh Pham Na Sa, a pupil of class 5A, said: “This is the first time I learn how to swim. Thus, I am very excited! Thanks to my teachers and my own efforts, currently I could swim about a half distance of the swimming pool!”

Drowning prevention for children

Tran Nu Ho Tram Tram, a student of class 5B, who learned swimming last year, but still would like to register for the swimming class this year. She said: “Swimming not only helps me avoid accidents but also grow my height. My parents encouraged me to learn swimming with my teachers. They usually wake me every early morning, took me to the school on time in order for me to go to the swimming pool by bus.”

Mrs. Nguyen Thi Thu Hien, 39 years old, who is the mother of a student in grade 4, usually went to the swimming class with her child every day. She felt comfortable when she found her child was not scared of water any more. Her child was keen on practicing swimming with friends. She said that the swimming class not only provided her child with life skills but also helped her child become steady, discover the child’s new and useful abilities.

Strengthening the schools’ capacities

Four primary schools in 3 wards (Nhon Binh, Hai Cang, Thi Nai) located near the sea, rivers, lakes are benefiting from the project “Flood proofing and drainage for medium-sized coastal cities in Vietnam for adaption to climate change”. Those schools highly appreciated the practicality of the swimming training class for students. “In the context that bringing swimming classes for students to schools is still challenging to local educational department due to lack of infrastructures and funds, the swimming classes are very meaningful as they helped improve the children’s health as well as prevent drowning accidents.”, said Mr. Nguyen Viet Cuong, Principal of Hoang Quoc Viet Primary School.

It is easy to realise that although students in three wards: Nhon Binh, Hai Cang, Thi Nai living near lakes, sea, rivers, most of them do not know how to swim. Their parents are so poor that they do not really care about their children’s swimming skills. “Through a survey, we also found that although MOET has orientated teaching swimming for students in schools, up to now, there were no public schools which have implemented this activity. In order to prevent drowning accidents, teaching swimming for primary school students has been started since the end of the school year”, shared Mr. Le Phong, the Project Officer of Binh Dinh Chapter.

Ms. Bui Thi Minh Chau, the Project Officer of German Red Cross in Binh Dinh province, also informed that: “Unlike many other projects only invited coaches to teach swimming skills directly to students, swimming training for teachers is a way to build long-term human resources for teaching swimming for students at schools. Within our project, it is not feasible for us to teach swimming skills for all students, but thanks to the human resources, we do hope that those schools can replicate swimming training for more students in the future.”

Written by Nguyen Muoi – Binh Dinh Newspaper’s journalist

Translated into English by Bui Thi Minh Chau – GRC PO

Students discussing about the floods and storms’ negative effects

The activity has received warm welcome and high appreciation from the management boards of the 7 primary schools as well as their students. Mr. Nguyen Tan Si, the Principal of the no.1 Nhon Binh primary school (Quy Nhon), said to a Binh Dinh TV’s reporter during an interview that: “Floods and storms often happen in the area of our school. Thus, it is really necessary for our staff, teachers, and especially students to have knowledge of DRR/CCA as well as FA skills in order to prepare for and respond to natural disasters effectively. We would like to express our deep gratitude to the project for this meaningful and practical activity.”

In addition, Ha My Phung – a student of class 4D – Hai Cang primary school (Quy Nhon) said: “I’m very interested in the DRR/CCA training because after the class, I told my parents what I have learnt to prepare, prevent and respond to natural disasters.” Meanwhile, talking about FA training class, Do Dang Minh Hoang – a student of class 4D in the no.2 Nhon Binh primary school (Quy Nhon) simply shared: “I like this class because I feel happy, because in the future I can save human’s lives.”

Students of Hai Cang primary school practicing their first aid skill

Furthermore, this activity was also highly appreciated by the local social media. A documentary about DRR and FA lessons for primary students was shown on Binh Dinh TV on 6th Dec 2014 and a specialized article on this topic was also published on Binh Dinh Newspaper (hard copy) on 7th Dec 2014 and on its website: http://www.baobinhdinh.com.vn/viewer.aspx?macm=6&macmp=6&mabb=32565

A student confidently shared with Binh Dinh TV’s reporter what he has learnt about DRR/CCA in the training

Bui Thi Minh Chau
GRC PO in Binh Dinh

As many locals in the region rely on their farming for food and income, it has been crucial for Save the Children’s CBA project to support the implementation of geographically suitable alternative livelihood models and increase villagers’ knowledge of locally relevant adaptive farming and animal rearing techniques. This approach lays the foundation for sustainable adaptation that builds resilience in the community and opens up opportunities for the diversification of livelihood methods, which may reduce exposure to risk and market volatility.

Nguyen Xuan Thong lives in Thang Binh district of Quang Nam with his wife and five children. His youngest is 11 and attending school. Another of his children has a disability and must stay at home. To support his family Thong has been farming rice and raising pigs with limited success. He finds it difficult to keep his pigs healthy and gaining weight in light of the severity of the weather in his province.

When Thong’s son participated in the project’s climate change resilience activities at school he passed on the information he was learning to his family. The knowledge and understanding Thong gained about how climate change can contribute to certain diseases and the factors that can affect the health of his family and community compelled him to register for the new livelihood models project running in his community.

In addition to receiving one sow and 50 percent of the costs to build a pig pen, Thong and his wife also attended training sessions with staff from the Agriculture Extension Centre and other villagers. In these sessions they learned techniques to ensure their pigs could thrive despite the changing weather. These included building the pig pen with sloping floors and north- or south-facing to avoid cross breezes; the separation of the piglets from their mother; adding a light to warm piglets; cutting down sharp teeth; and the neutering of male pigs when they are five days old, which allows them to grow faster. This training has all contributed to the increased wellbeing of Thong’s livestock, so that they are healthier, reach maturation and can be sold for meat at a good price.

Thong learned the techniques and building requirements that enabled him to use his pig waste to produce biogas – a sustainable energy source – through the installation of a biogas digester. Each day his pigs produce five to six hours’ worth of gas, which has saved the family time and money as well as saving countless trees because Thong no longer needs to go to the forest and cut down trees for firewood.

As a result of the family’s achievements, three other families have replicated the model utilising their own means. To ensure that his neighbours have accurately set-up their new waste treatment centre and pig pens, Thong regularly visits to check out their work, communicate his expertise and share experiences and lessons learned.

When asked whether he would prefer to be given additional technical trainings or another sow, Thong explained that he would favour the skill-set training as he finds this to be far more useful to his family both now and into the future.
Through training local villagers with the skills required to adapt to climate change in a locally-relevant way, the members of this community are being introduced to skill development, livelihood diversification and strengthening of existing livelihoods ensuring they are more sustainable and cost effective, and that they can increase income, inspire confidence and encourage community ownership to achieve resilience.

Save the Children

Some pictures:

In order to raise the schools’ capacity and active role in self-protection, Binh Dinh and Phu Yen Chapters did not conduct the DRA themselves but instead let the school do it while the VNRC chapters assisted them. The evaluation team of each school includes 10 members selected from the school disaster management boards. These are the teachers who participated in Safe school training courses organized by German Red Cross and the 2 VNRC Chapters from November 2014 to February 2015. Safe school is not only a crucial topic for teachers and students, but also for the parents. Therefore, in order to conduct DRA comprehensively, in total, 210 teachers, 210 students and 210 parents from the 7 primary schools have been directly involved in the assessment.

[Nhon Binh no.1 primary school (Quy Nhon city)] Teachers, students and their parents discussing on the history of natural disasters at the school and the surrounding area with the facilitation of the teachers who are in the school evaluation team

Mr. Vo Chi – Head of Parent Association of Hai Cang primary school, shared that: “The local people sometimes do not understand clearly about disasters, risks, and damages. These activities really helped us widen our knowledge. Moreover, when disasters occur, children are usually mentally shocked. I think this assessment did prepare for the children to actively respond when disasters come. In addition, I think it is always true that if we have disaster preparedness and response (DP&R) plan, we can respond better and more actively so as to reduce damages caused by natural disasters.”

Mr. Vo Chi (second from the right) with the teachers, other parents and students conducting “Operation calendar” tool which aims at listing the different hazards and the different school activities occurring during the calendar year.

Ms. Pham Thi Thu Ha, an art teacher, eagerly shared that “The DRA is such a rare activity that teachers, parents, and students cooperated with each other to implement. I found that the children and their parents participated in the evaluation very actively and they really enjoyed it. I wish there would have more activities like this for teachers, students and parents to learn from each other.” She also talked about how the assessment changed her thoughts and behaviours: “As an art teacher, I was not interested in integrating the topic of DP&R in my lessons. From now on, I will actively integrate this topic into my lessons in order to guide my students what to do and not to do in DP&R”.

Ms.Ha (orange shirt ) with the students and parents drawing maps showing the different risks and vulnerabilities of Hai Cang primary school and the surrounding areas

Teachers, parents and students of Hai Cang primary school developing the “problem tree” to identify the school’s risks

Overview of meeting on DRA introduction at Hoang Quoc Viet primary school (Quy Nhon city)

Based on the assessment’s results, the school disaster management boards together with the teachers have developed their annual safe school plan. The plans propose structural and non-structural measures such as establishment of water filter systems or repairing electricity systems, etc. in order to ask for the involvement and support of the Departments of Education & Training, local authorities, other external organisations and donors to build safe school model more effectively.

Although during the DRAs the school evaluation teams have showed their limitations in methodology, assessment tools, information collecting skills,…the schools and parents did express their high appreciation to the activity as well as their enthusiastic participation. In short, this activity remains a good initiative which showed that the school communities (Board, teachers, students, parents…) are taking now an active role in assessing, planning and building safer schools. This is one of the significant achievements of the FPP in the school sector since empowerment of the project beneficiaries is a critical step in building safer schools during natural disasters as well as in general./.

Bui Thi Minh Chau
GRC PO in Binh Dinh

The training course was organized to enhance the capacity of members in the organization and implementation of communication activities concerned with disaster risk reduction and climate change in Central Vietnam. There were over 30 students who registered and attended the training course. The participants of the training were members from the provinces of Quang Tri, Hue, Da Nang, Quang Nam and Binh Dinh.

Photo: Participants from Quang Tri, Hue, Da Nang, Quang Nam and Binh Dinh

At the training, Mr. Le Dai Tri – Lecturer of the training was to equip the participants with the main contents of: Communications and Communication campaign; Communication and approaches to behavior change; Behavior change communication and community mobilization; Monitoring and evaluation of campaign; and things to do to organize a communication event. In particular, the lecturer spent time on the content “behavior change communication and community mobilization” and focused on skills instruction to participants, such as: analyzing communication problems; analyzing communication audiences; analyzing organizations; developing communication objectives; determining communication strategy; identifying communications activities; communication training; and production of communication supporting materials.

With the key methods of discussion and practice and sharing from the class, the training course has mobilized the active participation of 30 students in all contents in the course.

Photo : Lecturer lecturing in courses

Photo : Participants discussed lively group exercises

The course not only equipped participants with the knowledge of communication planning. But, more importantly, it urged the desire of most of the participants to develop communication plans after the training to be able to change behaviors. Many participants also intend to change the implementation of communication activities in their organizations. One remaining problem is creating the environment for the participants to apply the knowledge and enthusiasm that the lecturer taught.

Photo: Enthusiasm was aroused in every participant

The course met the initial goals that the organizers had set and was an opportunity for each member of the CCN to come closer and share experiences of working with projects.

At the end of the training, the Executive Board also briefly discussed with the member organizations about determination of behavior communicated and preliminary works to develop an action plan in the near future.

Photo: The training course was memorable for each participant

Bao Hoa
Center for Rural Development in Central Vietnam

The main purpose of the model is the application of appropriate farming techniques (determine the appropriate calendar, use good varieties and take care by suitable techniques) to promote rice to grow well in the seedling stage to avoid cold and frost in the flowering stage. It helps increase rice yield in the winter-spring crop. The project has supported the farmers with agricultural materials, training and technical guidance. During the four months of implementation, knowledge on seed selection, calendar determination, weeding, caring, watering, detection and effective disease prevention has been supported continuously.

Despite facing many difficulties in the process of implementing the model, e.g., prolonged cold and frost, people are not familiar with technical application in rice cultivation. Methods of growing rice adapting to climate change has been too difficult to understand for the locals. However, good organization, management and implementation mobilized the active participation of people who now understand and comply with the requirements of the project to minimize the risk of the adverse weather conditions.

After four months of implementation, people know how to classify and use varieties, to keep varieties, weed, feed fertilizer properly and use irrigation water efficiently, and the work of combating rats has also been transferred successfully. Mr. Pham Van Dot, team leader of the model told us, “The model helped us understand the effectiveness of technical application in rice cultivation. Applying techniques brought the real effectiveness beyond our expectations. Rice yields were estimated at 2.5-3 quintal per sao”, he added “Application of new varieties (KD18) brought out higher yields by 50-60% compared to the old ones, strong and healthy rice resistance to pests and diseases. The proper use of irrigation water is more effective during droughts and increased the efficiency of fertilizer. Application of nylon prevented the disturbance of rats better than before”. According to Mr. Pham Van Kem, head village of Con Ro, the model showed new or good ideas compared to the previous thinking. The previous models only cared about productivity and pay less attention to prevention techniques under the adverse weather conditions. He said, “people following the model learned that their paddy fields have less grass and diseases and they no longer worry about the disturbance of rats and gain more rice, …”

During the coordination and direction during the implementation of the model, project officers and local officers learned valuable lessons in directing and guiding the implementation of production activities. According to Mrs. Le Thi Tram, vice president of Ba Bich CPC, the enthusiastic and responsible support of project officers not only helped households who implemented the model grow rice well but also improves qualifications and technical transfer method of communal agriculture officers in the context of adverse weather and climate change. Mrs. Tram recommends that the project continue to support the summer-autumn crop so that other people in other villages also can benefit.

After overcoming the initial difficulties, the results obtained from the model are very good. Villagers and local authorities are happy that the project had appropriate approach methods and brought high efficiency to rice production in their locality. On behalf of beneficiaries, Mr. Pham Van Dot emotionally gives thanks for the help of Plan International, Center for Rural Development in Central Vietnam and authorities at all levels for facilitating his group to have such a good harvest as today. Mr. Dot as well as the group commit to continue sharing knowledge and experience in the process of implementing the model with other people in the community and expects that the project will continue providing technical assistance in the next crop to the group and people not currently received the benefits.

Not only the model in Ba Bich commune but also other models in Ba Dinh, Ba To and Ba Xa communes have achieved good results and people also have the same comments and thoughts as Ba Bich commune. With this initial success, it is hopefully that people and local authorities will continue to maintain, share and replicate the project achievements to other households in the villages and communes. Groups of households directly implementing the model in Winter-Spring crop will be the important nucleus for other people to visit and learn. From that, the activity of growing rice in this locality is increasingly effective and adapts well to the context of climate change.

Do Cao Anh and Phan Cong Tam
Center for Rural Development in Central Vietnam

Some pictures of harvesting rice models

The four communes of Ba Bich, Ba Dinh, Ba To and Ba Xa of Ba To district, Quang Ngai province are implementing project activities of the program “Child-centered climate change adaptation in Vietnam” supported by Plan International. Not only did the project provide support to build the sheds but also it focused on guidance and support of husbandry techniques for farmers.

The practice of building food reserves, especially reserves of rice straw for cattle in the cold rainy season, has not previously attracted special attention in the mountain region. Following practices of backward husbandry, grazing year round, building temporary sheds without roof, and feeding with only natural grass in forests and hills, each year many cattle died from hunger when the cold rainy seasons came. In addition to supporting the construction of sheds, the project has also cooperated with the local authorities to integrate and organize multiple sessions. The purpose of this is to share experiences directly with households the technical guidance of collecting rice straw, developing stack of straw and reserving food for cattle in the cold rainy season.

People rarely have practiced the habit of collecting straw to reserve food for cattle, but often burn straw in the field or discharge causing environmental pollution, even while cattle do not have enough food. To help people change their habits, the project officer organized many meetings to share experiences on husbandry, guide households how to collect and dry straw, and how to build stacks of straw efficiently to ensure the straw will not rot.

With the method of hands-on and on-the-spot guidance, the project officers went to the field to guide the ways to dry and collect straw before the harvest. When finishing the work of the rice thresher, the straw should be collected and dried. The workplace for building a stack of straw must be at high position and have drainage. Bamboo for supporting in building the stack must be strong. When building, the straw should be spread evenly and compacted. The ridge of straw stack should be covered by buckets or plastic bags to protect from rotting by rainwater. Using these methods, households can actively feed for cattle in the cold rainy season.

Mrs. Pham Thi Henh of Mang Mu village, Ba Xa commune said that she was previously accustomed to grazing buffalos on the mountain and faced the fear of they could die of cold and hunger when the rainy season comes. However, if she called them back home, there was still no food for them. From the experience of being guided in the ways to collect and dry straw by this project, in winter she can now safely bring them back to be confined in buffalo-sheds without worrying about their hunger.

Her family has four buffalos, and thanks to this approach, her buffalos this year grow relatively well and food sources are available year round. “I reserve straw twice a year, one from winter-spring and the other from summer-autumn crop. Many rural households raising buffalos not only take advantages of their straw but also offer the others to reserve”.

Photo: People know how to develop a stack of straw

Mr. Pham Van Don at Nuoc Lang village, Ba Dinh commune said that the local people don’t have habits of developing a stack of straw because they often graze buffalos on the mountain and rarely bring them back home. In addition, they don’t know how to develop the stack of straw according to the right way so straw often becomes rotten and mouldy and could not be used. From the time of being guided by the project in the techniques of collecting straw and developing a stack of straw, now straw are better preserved in cold season and Mr. Pham no longer worries about lack of food.

Ba To is a mountainous district with a large number of cattle. The number of cattle is currently about 64,000 head including more than 30,000 head of buffalos and cows. The number of households with 2-3 buffalos are very common here. Husbandry farmers have recognized the value of buffalos and cows so most of them make sheds to confine the animals. “Today, the propaganda is much easier and people’s perceptions on food storage and shielding sheds for cattle in winter has become a habit” – said by Mr. Pham Van Luong – Chairman of CPC Ba Dinh.

Mr. Dinh Nam Oang, Chairman of Ba Xa CPC said that “Ba Xa is one of the remote and difficult areas of Ba To and the people living here have faced many difficulties. However, the support of International Plan has helped the local people change their habits of cattle grazing and knowing how to reserve straw. This is a big change and improvement.

The initial support of the project has contributed to positive changes in husbandry practices of Hre farmers in the highland district of Ba To. People know how to raise cattle in sheds and not to graze freely, and how to reserve food to feed cattle in the rainy season, etc. These positive changes contribute to changing habits of the backward husbandry practices of Hre ethnic people, increase household income, help reduce poverty and promote husbandry development in the region.

Phan Cong Tam
Center for Rural Development in Central Vietnam (CRD)

Addressing the opening celebration, representatives of the People’s Committee of Danang city and Disaster Management Center (DMC) identified the importance of community participation in disaster prevention, especially the participation of people with disabilities and the elderly in order to promote integration, strength and experience in disaster prevention.

The talk-show session were considered an active and practical importance to the participation of the representatives of Danang city People’s Committee and Disaster Management Center (DMC), representatives of the elderly with disabilities in the community of Danang city and Elderly Association participating in the village flood prevention committee.

During the talk-show, some contents were shared and discussed lively and practically:

• Representatives of the elderly shared life problems of the elderly (with disabilities) at home, in the community and when a disaster occurs; experiences of the elderly should be exploited in the disaster prevention and the needs of the elderly and people with disabilities participating in disaster prevention activities.
• Representatives of the People’s Committee of Danang city, Mr. Huynh Van Thang, Deputy director of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, Vice President of Center for Flood and Storm Control, Search and Rescue of Danang city shared the city activities in disaster prevention with the participation of the community; considered it as one of the core issues that the city has been implementing with the support of local and international organizations and determined the role of the elderly contributing in disasters prevention .
• Disaster Management Center (DMC) provided general information on themes of International Day for Disaster Prevention in recent years, the significance of the theme “The elderly with disasters 2014: Resilience for Life”, the role of the elderly in connection of generations, life experience, experience in disaster prevention and ensuring solidarity and mobilizing all resources in the community.

At the roundtable discussion after talk-show, numerous comments from representatives of  Association of People with Disabilities, the elderly mentioned the difficulties in access to disaster prevention activities, especially developing disaster prevention plan, training and education; representatives of the Ministry of Labour – Invalids and Social Affairs stressed the problem of people with disabilities and the elderly being currently given special attention and promoted the strength and ensured inclusion of people with disabilities and the elderly in the disaster prevention. To achieve this goal, developing a propaganda team and signing a memorandum with the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development is very important, and has been currently discussed and developed.

Talking to the participants, the Disaster Management Center (DMC) highlighted standpoints of the government directing the participation of communities, especially vulnerable groups in disaster prevention in the Disaster Prevention Law, National Strategy for Disaster Prevention and Mitigation to 2020, the project “Raising public awareness and community-based disaster risk management”, the important role of local government at all levels, social and political organizations, especially Association of People with Disabilities, Elderly Association, international organizations in the implementation of specific activities for people with disabilities and the elderly so that they could participate and contribute to practical activities in the local disaster prevention. These are considered the most important factors to realize the Government’s direction and expectations of the disability community and the elderly.

The celebration also includeds communication activities such as exhibitions, music activities, drama by the Association of people with disabilities and the elderly of city and provinces of Danang, Hue and Quang Tri that were made by themselves and performed. This is seen as a strong message about the role and expectations to contributing the strength in disaster prevention in the community.

Closing the ceremony, the participants evaluated communication activities celebrating the International Day for Disaster Reduction very practical and expect more activity for gradually including the disabled and the elderly in disaster prevention.

(Department of Information and Statistics – Disaster Management Center)