Prime Minister Lê Minh Hưng will serve as Chairman of the National Civil Defence Steering Committee. — VNA/VNS Photo

HÀ NỘI — Prime Minister Lê Minh Hưng on Tuesday signed Decision No. 1328/QD-TTg on the organisation of the National Civil Defence Steering Committee.

Under the decision, the committee serves as an inter-agency coordinating body tasked with advising the Government and the Prime Minister on organising, directing and overseeing civil defence activities and disaster-related states of emergency nationwide.

It will also directly supervise civil defence command bodies at ministries, central agencies and provincial-level civil defence steering committees.

The committee will advise the Prime Minister on policies, legislation, strategies, programmes, projects and plans related to civil defence, disaster response, search and rescue, and disaster emergency management.

It will coordinate ministries, agencies, organisations and local authorities in implementing civil defence measures, determine and lift civil defence alert levels, and deploy specialised and part-time civil defence forces to prevent, respond to and recover from disasters nationwide. The committee will also prepare Việt Nam to participate in international humanitarian assistance and disaster relief operations.

Its responsibilities further include public awareness campaigns, legal education, training, drills, infrastructure development, equipment procurement, international cooperation, and the review and commendation of civil defence activities.

Prime Minister Lê Minh Hưng will serve as Chairman of the committee.

Its deputy chairpersons are Permanent Deputy Prime Minister Phạm Gia Túc, who takes the charge of its Standing Deputy Chairman; Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of National Defence Phan Văn Giang; Deputy Prime Minister Hồ Quốc Dũng; the Minister of Public Security; the Minister of Agriculture and Environment; and the Minister of Health.

The committee's permanent member is the Chief of the General Staff of the Việt Nam People's Army and Deputy Minister of National Defence.

It also has 16 other members who are senior officials from different ministries and agencies, including the General Director of the Vietnam News Agency.

Each ministry and sector represented on the committee will designate a focal unit to support its member in carrying out assigned responsibilities and assisting the committee within its respective area of state management.

The decision takes effect immediately and replaces Decision No. 1585/QD-TTg, dated July 23, 2025, which reorganised the National Civil Defence Steering Committee, the National Steering Committee for Natural Disaster Prevention and Control, and the National Committee for Incident and Disaster Response, Search and Rescue into a single body. — VNA/VNS