The 5th Meeting of the ADPC Regional Consultative Committee on Disaster Management was held in Hanoi , Vietnam from the 18-20 th May 2005 , in collaboration with the Government of the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam. Altogether, 25 (32) representatives from 18 RCC Member Countries comprising heads of National Disaster Management Offices from Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Iran, Jordan, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Mongolia, Nepal, Pakistan, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Timor Leste and Vietnam, the Ambassador from Thailand and senior officials from Embassies of Iran, France, the Netherlands and Sweden and the European Delegation to Vietnam.
In addition, 32 observers consisting representatives from regional organizations, UN Agencies, and bilateral and multilateral funding agencies: Asian Disaster Reduction Centre (ADRC), AusAID, Comprehensive Disaster Management Program - Bangladesh (CDMP), East West Center (EWC), Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), Disaster Preparedness Program - European Community Humanitarian Aid Office (DipEcho), Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ) GmbH, Melbourne Fire and Emergency Services Board (MFESB), Mekong River Commission (MRC), Pacific Disaster Center (PDC), the ProVention Consortium, Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA), South Pacific Applied Geosciences Commission (SOPAC), UNDP, UNESCAP, UNESCO, United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UN-ISDR), UN-OCHA, the World Bank and senior officials from the Government of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam and ADPC partners in Vietnam i.e. ISTED, Oxfam BG, Save the Children (UK), UNDP Viet Nam and Vietnam Red Cross Society, attended the meeting.
The opening day of RCC5 was held concurrently with the 59 th celebration ceremony for the Tradictional Day for Disaster Reduction in Vietnam. The joint opening ceremony was hedl at 09:00am on Wednesday, 18th May 2005.
The Honourable Deputy President of the People's Socialist Republic of Vietnam, Mr. Vu Khoan inaugurated the meeting and in his address highlighted the need for international co-operation in order to effectively prevent and mitigate the damage caused by the increasing occurrence of global disasters. He also paid tribute to the efforts of the government and contribution of the people in the important and decided role in the disaster control strategy of Vietnam and expressed his aspirations for increased international support for disaster reduction in Vietnam.
Keynote addresses were delivered by Dr. Cao Duc Phat, Honorable Minister of Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Mr. Le Huy Ngo, Honorable Chairman of the Central Committee for Flood and Storm Control, Dr. Subinay Nandy, UNDP Deputy Resident Representative in Vietnam, Mr. Dang Quang Tinh, Director, Department of Disaster Management and Flood and Strom Control, Mr. Nguyen Trong Nhu, representative from the Ministry of Defence, a representative from the local authorities and agencies, Professor Krasae Chanawongse, Chairman of ADPC Board of Trustees and Dr. Suvit Yodmani, Executive Director, ADPC. The ceremony was attended by an audience of 250 people comprising of Ambassadors and counsellors from embassies in Hanoi, senior officials from UN agencies, representatives of other international organizations and agencies, NGOs, delegates from RCC member countries, senior officials from the Ministries of Fishery, Environment and Natural Resources, Planning and Investment, Finance, Industry, Transportation, Construction, Labor, Invalid and Social Affairs, Health, Science and Technology, Trade, Foreign Affairs, Public Security, Post and Telecommunications, and Provincial Departments of Dyke Management and Flood and Storm Control of the Socialist Republic of the Government of Vietnam, its national media and other relevant agencies and government departments.
The Meeting consisted of seven substantive sessions. The first three sessions on the first day included presentations by the host country Vietnam on their national plans for water related disasters, the National Disaster Management Partnership, Safer Living Clusters in the Mekong Delta and Community-based Disaster Risk Management initiatives in Vietnam; introduced to the participants ADPC's follow up actions for the last four RCC Meetings; followed by presentations by RCC Member Countries and regional organizations on lessons learned from recent disasters. The second day and the morning of the third day comprised of the special session on the progress of the RCC Initiative on Mainstreaming Disaster Risk Reduction into Development (MDRM) Policy, Planning and Implementation in Asia, including the showcasing of MDMR in RCC Member Countries, a dialogue with ADPC Partners and the Donor Community and discussions on how to move the program forward. This was followed by a Special Consultative Session for the Asian Region in on the Implementation of the Hyogo Framework for Action (HFA), an outcome of the UN-ISDR 2 nd World Conference on Disaster Reduction (WCDR) in Kobe 2005 and an evaluation of the meeting and actions for the coming year.
