VWU Vice President Nguyen Thi Tuyet noted that Vietnam is o­ne of the countries hardest hit by natural disasters and climate change.

In the past two decades, natural disasters killed 13,000 people and caused economic loss of more than 6.4 billion USD. Vietnamese women, constituting 51 percent of the country’s population, have actively engaged in natural disaster prevention and climate change response.

Tuyet said that the VWU has conducted various activities in the field with the engagement of many women. In 2013, the union became an official member of the Steering Committee for natural disaster prevention, control and rescue.

A representative from UN Women said that women are a powerful resource in natural disaster mitigation and recovery. The representative highlighted society’s inadequate acknowledgement and investment into this resource.

The Government needs to take measures to increase women’s engagement in the work, making them a pioneering force in changing practices in climate change response and natural disaster risk reduction, stressed the representative.

Participants agreed that the stronger involvement of women will benefit their families, society and themselves by minimising economic losses.-VNA