Monday, November 28, 2011

Regional officials meet in Cambodia to discuss disaster risk reduction, climate change

  PHNOM PENH, Nov. 28 (Xinhua) -- The ninth meeting of the Regional Consultative Committee on Disaster Management  (RCC) was held here on Monday, bringing together officials from 26 countries and development partners to discuss ways to  respond to disaster risk and climate change.
  The meeting was co-chaired by Cambodia’s Vice President of the National Committee for Disaster Management Nhim Vanda  and the Chairman of Asian Disaster Preparedness Center (ADPC) Krasae Chanowongse.
  “It is held in the wake of the devastating floods in Cambodia, Thailand, Laos and Vietnam,” Nhim Vanda said at the opening  remarks. “It is very important for us to meet and discuss ways to reduce the impacts from the disaster risk and climate change.”
  “Our Asian region has been suffering the worst from climate change in recent years,” he said.
  He added that the recent floods in Cambodia had killed at least 250 people and affected 1.5 million people. In terms of  economics, the floods cost the country an estimated 521 million U.S. dollars, mainly the damages of rice paddies and physical  infrastructures.
  The meeting, which lasts until Wednesday, will also discuss on the progress has made and next steps of the RCC program on  mainstreaming Disaster Risk Reduction into development, according to a press release from the ADPC.
  The RCC mechanism was established by ADPC in 2000 and comprises of members who are working in key government  positions in the National Disaster Management systems of countries of the Asian region, it said.
  The role of RCC is to provide a consultative mechanism for the development of action strategies for disaster risk reduction in  the region.

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