YANGON, June 17 (Xinhua) -- Myanmar will implement a disaster risk management project financed by the World Bank to improve resilience to natural disasters and strengthen aging infrastructure in the Yangon region, official media reported Saturday.
The Myanmar Southeast Asia Disaster Risk Management Project will contribute 116 million U.S. dollars in efforts to reduce the impact of flooding, improve resilience of selected public facilities against earthquakes in Yangon and strengthen the country's capacity to respond natural disasters.
Annually, Myanmar spent over 184 million U.S. dollars in resilient recovery of areas impacted by the disasters.
The project is also co-funded with a grant of 1 million U.S. dollars from the Southeast Asia Disaster Risk Insurance Facility, a multi-donor trust fund.
As Yangon is located in an earthquake-prone area and mostly faces high flood risks, the project investments in Yangon's drainage system, public facilities and critical infrastructure will help deliver high-quality public infrastructure and services in the city, Yangon Region Chief Minister U Phyo Min Thein said.
Abdoulaye Seck, World Bank Country Manager for Myanmar, noted that the World Bank will continue supporting in reducing the country's human, economic and financial losses causes by natural disasters to protect its development gains.
The project is part of Southeast Asia's regional program on disaster risk management financed by the World Bank including projects in Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia.
