The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and Vietnam’s Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) have signed a memorandum of understanding to strengthen disaster response management for the Southeast Asian country. The support will enable the MARD to implement an Incident Command System (ICS) to more effectively respond to all kinds of incidents and disasters. “The ICS training program will be an important step towards helping Vietnam address the disaster risks brought about by a changing climate,” said Deputy Assistant Administrator for Asia, Jason Foley, who is visiting Vietnam from Washington, DC. USAID provided over $10 million in support on natural disaster management since 2001, focusing on the area of disaster prevention, preparedness, and response. U.S. is among countries which have funded Vietnam approximately $1 billion for climate change response programs since 2009. The Southeast Asian country is one of five countries mostly suffer from climate change. (vietnam.usembassy.gov Feb 2)
