Starting on March 26, the three-day exercise is in the framework of the project for strengthening the ASEAN regional capacity in disaster health management and the technical cooperation between the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and the National Institute for Emergency Medicine (NIEM) of Thailand with the aim of promoting ASEAN’s health collaboration mechanism in response to natural disasters.
According to a simulated scenario, a strong storm hits the Central coastal region, causing heavy human and property losses in Da Nang city, Quang Nam province, and other neighboring localities. Devastated health establishments were unable to meet the growing demands on treating patients, especially for those in isolated areas.
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Heads of teams in a group photo |
The People’s Committees of Da Nang city and Quang Nam province reported the situationto the Government and the Health Ministry and called for support.
Under the direction of the Government, the Foreign Ministry appealed ASEAN member countries via the ASEAN Coordinating Center for Humanitarian Assistance on Disaster Management (AHA Center) for assistance.
Ten EMTs from the other nine ASEAN member countries and Japan arrived in Da Nang Airport and promptly teamed up with the local health teams to establish mobile health establishments to save the victims.
Addressing the ceremony to kick start the drill, Associate Professor and Doctor Pham Le Tuan, Deputy Health Minister affirmed that this regional drill demonstrates Vietnam’s commitment to cooperating with ASEAN member nations in providing support and performing health response to natural disasters at regional scale.
Via the exercise, Vietnamese medical units will improve their capacity, including that in disaster health management to meet regional standards, as well as acquiring for other skills on making response plans.
After the drill, lessons will be drawn; shortcomings will be pointed out; and proposals to ASEAN cooperation in large-scale disaster response for each nation and for the whole region will be made.
In her speech, Sadamoto from JICA Vietnam Office underscored that the drill targets enhanced collaboration among emergency medical teams if any natural disasters happen in the region. The drill helps the participants learn more about the way of making reports basing on real situations and better disasters-related information management. Besides, based on specific comments, JICA will contribute to building ASEAN regional collaboration tools on emergency health response to natural disasters.
Translated by Mai Huong