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Disaster conference targets Asia

Manila - Police evacuate an elderly couple from a flooded section of suburban Pasig city east of Manila on 28 September 2009 Jason Gutierrez/IRIN
Manila - Police evacuate an elderly couple from a flooded section of suburban Pasig city east of Manila
    BANGKOK

    Disaster relief workers representing 13 different countries will meet in Hue City, Vietnam, on 25 August for the Asian Symposium on Disaster Impact and Assessment in Asia conference.



    The three-day meeting, organized by the European Commission's disaster policy consortium MICRODIS, "aims to bring together academics, researchers, UN representatives, and NGOs to discuss ways to improve disaster impact and relief operations in the region", local organizer and Hue University professor, Tran Huu Tuan, told IRIN.



    The symposium focuses on Asia because of the number and frequency of natural disasters experienced in the region. From 2000 to 2009, Asia accounted for 85 percent of all disaster-related fatalities, according to the World Health Organization's Emergency Events Database. In 2009, Asia accounted for six of the top 10 disasters in the world.



    While disasters such as the recent Pakistani floods cannot be prevented, “it is only through timely preparations that the human and capital costs can be mitigated", MICRODIS project coordinator and University of Delhi professor PC Joshi said.



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    This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions

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