Vietnam: Rights and obligations of households and individuals in natural disaster prevention and control

According to Article 34 of the Law on Natural Disaster Prevention and Control 2013 of Vietnam, in natural disaster prevention and control, households and individuals have the following rights:

- To access information on natural disaster prevention and control published by competent agencies;

- To participate in the elaboration of local plans on natural disaster prevention and control and plans on response to natural disasters;

- To participate in programs on communication, information and education about natural disaster prevention and control; and to improve their knowledge on natural disaster prevention and control suitable to their practical conditions;

- To be returned supplies and means; to receive remunerations for their participation in urgent response to natural disasters in the community under the mobilization orders of competent persons;

- Participants in the response to natural disasters, who are injured or killed may be considered for entitlements and policies applicable to fallen heroes or war invalids as provided by the law on preferential treatment of persons with meritorious service to the revolution;

- To receive relief and support in accordance with law when suffering from damage caused by natural disasters.

Along with the above rights, the law also stipulates that these entities also have certain obligations. To be specific:

- To take the initiative in building, upgrading and protecting their works and houses to assure safety during natural disasters or remove them to safe places; neither to build houses nor to reside in areas, which can be severely affected by natural disasters;

- To implement local plans on natural disaster prevention and control and plans on response to natural disasters;

- To organize production and business activities suitable to the characteristics of natural disasters in their localities;

- To take the initiative in procuring equipment within their capacity to receive natural disaster forecasts and warnings and natural disaster prevention and control instructions;

- To prepare supplies and means within their capacity for natural disaster prevention and control;

- To take initiative in reserving food, drinking water, supplies and equipment for water treatment, curative medicines and medicines for epidemic prevention suitable to local natural disaster characteristics within their capacity, in order to sustain their livelihoods when natural disasters occur;

- Owners of ships and boats operating on the sea and rivers shall fully equip appropriate lifebuoys and communication and signaling devices; promptly provide accurate information on their position and the state of their operating means to local administrations and functional agencies when natural disasters occur; when encountering other ships and boats in distress, they shall promptly render salvation, search and rescue, or notify such by all means to the search and rescue agency in case the incident is beyond their capacity;

- To take the initiative in responding to and remedying consequences of natural disasters to assure safety for themselves and their families; to participate in assisting the community in natural disaster prevention and control;

- To comply with instructions and commands of competent agencies and persons on evacuation of people and means from, or no entry, into dangerous areas;

- To comply with decisions of competent agencies on the mobilization of manpower, supplies, means, equipment and essentials to serve the urgent response to natural disasters;

- To take the initiative in conducting environmental sanitation and epidemic and disease prevention and control in their living and working areas affected by natural disasters;

- To notify to competent agencies and persons upon detecting incidents or acts, which make natural disaster prevention and control works unsafe, and participate in the handling of such incidents within their capacity;

- To provide information within their knowledge on developments and consequences of natural disasters to competent agencies;

- Individuals are obliged to make contributions to the natural disaster prevention and control fund under the regulations of the Government; and to take the initiative in helping people affected by natural disaster in their localities.

The Law on Natural Disaster Prevention and Control 2013 of Vietnam officially takes effect from May 01, 2014.

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