Vietnam’s Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) have signed a memorandum of understanding on improving disaster response management in the Southeast Asian country. The MoU was signed on January 29 by USAID’s Deputy Assistant Administrator for Asia, Jason Foley, and the Minister of MARD, Cao Duc Phat, the Consulate General of the U.S. in Ho Chi Minh City said in a press release on Monday. Under the MoU, USAID will help the ministry build its capacity to implement what is called an Incident Command System (ICS). The U.S. agency will also support Vietnam’s efforts to improve response and coordination systems to more effectively respond to all kinds of disasters and incidents. “The ICS training program will be an important step towards helping Vietnam address the disaster risks brought about by a changing climate,” the U.S. Consulate General quoted Foley, who is visiting Vietnam from Washington, D.C., as saying. “The U.S. believes that adoption and localization of the ICS system, which is internationally proven, will both strengthen coordination systems and better prepare Vietnam to work more closely with its ASEAN partners on disaster response,” Foley added. During its long partnership with Vietnam in the field of disaster prevention, preparedness, and response, USAID has provided the Southeast Asian country with over US$10 million in support on natural disaster management since 2001.  The USAID now has a number of disaster risk reduction projects on early warning decision-making tools, community-based disaster risk reduction, and public-private partnerships on disaster risk management underway, according to the press release.

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