Tuesday, 16 June 2009

ASEAN officials meet in Cambodia for disaster management

www.chinaview.cn
2009-06-16

PHNOM PENH, June 16 (Xinhua) -- At least 30 officials from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) met in Cambodia's capital Phnom Penh on Tuesday for disaster management and cooperation of mutual benefits with the support from Asia disaster reduction center.

The three-day conference focuses on the capacity building for government officials on disaster management, according to the conference documents.

The participants will help each other if in case of necessary events and will share information to prevent disaster, the documents said.

According to a report from Cambodia's National Committee of Disaster Management (NCDM), 49 storms hit the country in the first five months of this year, killing two people and injuring 45 others. The disasters also destroyed 575 houses and damaged 717 others.

There are also 50 fires reported in the first five months of this year, causing nine deaths and five injuries. The fires also destroyed 650 houses, 230 stores and 65 tons of un-milled rice in the country.

Lighting strikes killed 79 people and injured two others.

Disaster hazards have increased sharply compared with the same period of last year, NCDM said.

The ASEAN includes the ten countries of Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

Editor: Bi Mingxin

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