HÀ NỘI — Thuỷ Lợi (Water Resources) University (TLU) and Việt Nam Disaster Management Authority signed a strategic and comprehensive cooperation agreement on Monday.

Under the agreement, the two parties will cooperate on researching and applying technological innovations, training high-quality human resources and fostering capacity building.

TLU will be responsible to develop high-quality human resources, such as doctors, engineers and those with bachelor’s and master’s degrees as well as offer advanced courses on the orders of the Authority. Simultaneously, the university and the authority will collaborate in recruitment and conducting capacity-building courses for officers. TLU students with high educational achievements will have the opportunity to intern and participate in capacity-building courses conducted by the authority.

The authority will offer consultation to the university on adjusting the curriculum and improving the training quality. It will also offer scholarships to students with disadvantaged backgrounds who commit to work for the authority after graduation.

TLU will propose researches, innovations and potential projects on disaster preparedness and reduction to the authority and establish groups of experts aiming to support the authority in dealing with extreme weather events.

In 2017, Việt Nam experienced severe and unprecedented natural disasters, with more than 380 people dead or missing and a loss of some VNĐ60,000 billion (US$2.6 billion).

According to Trần Quang Hoài, head of the authority, the limited capacity of natural disaster preparedness by agencies is among the major difficulties in the process of monitoring and issuing warnings.

The lack of disaster resilience skills and emergency information systems also contributed to the loss of lives and property caused by natural disasters in Việt Nam last year. — VNS