Construction of storm- and flood-resilient houses in Quang Binh begins

A ground-breaking ceremony to build 73 storm- and flood-resilient houses for vulnerable poor and near-poor households is held in Quang Binh Province, May 22, 2022 - Photo: UNDP

It is the second time that UNDP, World Share, and the Provincial Department of Planning and Investment are building resilient houses, the first occasion being their hand-over of 39 safe houses to poor families in December 2021.

Speaking at the event, UNDP Deputy Resident Representative in Viet Nam Patrick Haverman said that all of these houses have withstood the impacts of floods and storms and multiple tropical depressions that passed over Quang Binh province in 2020 and 2021.

The special storm- and flood-resistant features of this particular resilient housing model received strong interest from 28 coastal provinces and the central government in an international conference on climate change adaptation, co-organised by the Government of Viet Nam, Norway and UNDP in Hanoi last week, he added.

It is expected that these 73 resilient houses will be completed and handed over to the local poor people by the end of July 2022.

The central province of Quang Binh is often heavily affected by natural disasters. In 2020 alone, it suffered the consequences of four historic floods, which caused damage to thousands of households. Although 2021 was generally considered more favorable, there were still more than a thousand houses that were flooded, as well as significant damage to furniture.