Be ready: marking the 72nd Traditional Day on Natural Disaster Prevention in Vietnam
In preparation of the 72nd Traditional day on Natural Disaster Prevention in Vietnam (22/5/2018), representatives of Cam Hieu commune, Cam Lo District, Quang Tri Province, held a Launching Ceremony on May 15th, 2018. The ceremony also marked the start of the communication campaign “Enhancing people’s awareness for preparations in housing reinforcements and property rearrangement following warning and and early evacuation notifications ordered by the Disaster Prevention and Control Committee".
The Launching Ceremony was held in a hall of Commune People's Committee. There were about 100 people attending this event, representing community members and authorities in this commune. During the event, there were entertainment activities such as singing, chanty, drama and some quizzes related to the campaign, which help to enhance people’s awareness for disasters prevention, especially the at-risk group including the people with disabilities. All activities aim at behavior change leading to proactive responses to natural disaster.
Others activities included displaying of banners with messages to the villagers at places frequently visited or sending leaflets to each house and broadcasting news via loudspeaker. All of those aiming to remind the communities to participate in disaster preparedness proactively.
In addition to mass communication activities, direct communication sessions have been started in hamlets. Residents who are on the village priority early evacuation lists and need support from the rescue team and residents who did not actively evacuate early in the previous disasters were invited by communicators to participate in group communication or personal communication.
"Disaster preparedness for reducing human and property damage is the responsibility of the entire community, not of a specific individual. Rescue teams are ready to assist vulnerable groups, especially those with disabilities or those without support. If each villager is active and willing to implement the hamlet’s Disaster Risk Management plan, the losses will be significantly reduced" said the chairman of the Commune People's Committee, who is also the Head of Disaster Risk Management Board of the commune, during the Launching Ceremony.
The communication campaign aiming to enhance people awareness is one of the activities of the project "Widening Participation of People with Disabilities in Community-Based Risk Management in Vietnam" funded by Malteser International and The German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development in Quang Tri and Quang Ngai (4.2016-9.2018). It is known that Cam Thuy commune will start a the same campaign on 26/5/2018.