Domestic and foreign donors pledged to fund more than VND14 billion ($732,900) for central Vietnam in the first quarter of this year to cope with natural disasters, the state-run Voice of Vietnam Radio said Mar. 15, citing an official of the Central Natural Disaster Relief Fund. The fund plans to build 30 community houses and provide training courses on flood prevention, aiming to help prevent and mitigate natural disasters in 14 central provinces in 2010, Chairman of the fund Phan Dien said. It will also raise funds from domestic and international firms to implement projects on planting protective forest in Quang Binh province and salt-marsh forest in Thanh Hoa province between 2010 and 2015. Natural disasters left 500 dead and missing in Vietnam and caused losses equivalent to nearly 2% of the country’s GDP in 2009.
