Nghe An (VNA) – About 200 officials from 21 member economies ofthe Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Forum (APEC) have gathered in central NgheAn province to seek measures to strengthen affiliation in dealing with disasterrisks.

The 11th Senior Disaster Management Officials Forum (SDMOF11) which opened onSeptember 21 focuses on enhancing cooperation and innovation of advanced technologiesto effectively support the effective inter-regional emergency response to “NewNormal” in the APEC economies, including landslide in coastal area, super stormand tsunami.

Opening the two-day forum, Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Agriculture andRural Development Hoang Van Thang said that Vietnam is frequently suffered fromnatural disasters such as storm, flood and drought. Most recently, Typhoon Doksuridirectly hit three central provinces, including Nghe An, causing heavy lossesin both human lives and property, he noted.

Typhoon Doksuri, the 10th of its kind arising in the East Sea this year, killednine people and damaged 193,000 houses, with total estimated losses of about385 million USD.

Climate change that goes along with extreme weather conditions has also madenatural disaster more dangerous with stronger storms, more serious flood anddrought, he noted.

Thang said that over the past years, Vietnam has applied a number of measuresto minimise natural disaster risks, including protecting and restoring the forestecosystem and mangrove forests, boosting green growth and integrating natural disaster management into theoperation of various sectors and improving the community’s capacity in disastermanagement.

He held that the forum is a great chance for Vietnam to learn experience fromAPEC member economies, thus enhancing Vietnam’s abilityin the field.

The official expressed his hope that the forum will agree on recommendations tobe submitted to APEC leaders, thus fostering collaboration in natural disasterprevention and response.

Established in 1989, APEC comprises21 economies, including Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, China, Hong Kong(China), Indonesia, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, NewZealand, Papua New Guinea, Peru, the Philippines, Russia, Singapore, ChineseTaiwan, Thailand, the US, and Vietnam.-VNA