Vice Chairman of the People’s Committee of central Thừa Thiên-Huế Province Nguyễn Văn Phương delivers a speech at a workshop held on Thursday to launch an ADB-funded project to help mitigate natural disasters. — Photo thuathienhue.gov.vn

THỪA THIÊN-HUẾ — The Asian Development Bank (ADB) on Thursday launched a project to help mitigate risks of natural disasters in Huế Imperial City, central Thừa Thiên-Huế Province.
The project has a total investment of US$2 million sourced from the Urban Climate Change Resilience Trust Fund (UCCRTF) managed by the ADB.
Huế City will be provided with technical assistance and disaster insurance for some public properties.
The project, which will be carried out throughout 2024, includes the collection of a public property database and design of appropriate insurance solutions.
Such activities are hoped to back the development of a comprehensive disaster risk management strategy for the city.
Vice Chairman of the provincial People’s Committee Nguyễn Văn Phương said ADB is one of the leading units supporting the province to minimise natural disaster risks in recent years.
He mentioned other assistance projects of the bank such as biodiversity conservation, climate change adaptation and sustainable forest management, and green urban development.
Thomas W.Kessler, Principal Disaster Risk Insurance & Finance Specialist at the bank, said disaster risks in Việt Nam are estimated to cause direct losses of an average of $1.4 billion each year.
The project not only aims to design a specific insurance solution to Huế City but also considers the feasibility of expanding the project to other cities and provinces across Việt Nam, he added.
It is part of the green secondary cities development project worth $12.8 million sourced from the Special Climate Change Fund, the UCCRTF, and the Global Environment Fund which is carried out in Huế City, Vĩnh  Yên City (northern Vĩnh Phúc Province) and Hà Giang City (northern mountainous Hà Giang Province). — VNS