The National Assembly agrees to establish a Civil Defense fund.

On the morning of June 20th, the National Assembly passed the Law on Civil Defense, which stipulates that a Civil Defense Fund will be established before any disaster or incident occurs.

In the report on the acceptance and explanation of the draft Law, the Chairman of the National Defense and Security Committee, Le Tan Toi, stated that based on the opinions of delegates discussed in the plenary session on May 24th, the Standing Committee of the National Assembly developed two options for delegates' consideration. The first is to immediately establish a Fund for timely use in disaster and emergency situations, and the second is to establish it only in emergency situations, as decided by the Prime Minister .

As a result, 374 out of 494 delegates participated in the discussion, with 68.36% (255 delegates) supporting Option 1. The Standing Committee of the National Assembly accepted and stipulated the content of Option 1 as shown in Article 40. Accordingly, the Civil Defense Fund is a non-budgetary state financial fund established at the central and provincial levels to mobilize social resources to support civil defense activities.

The Civil Defense Fund is used for emergency relief in terms of food, drinking water, medicine, and essential necessities; and to support the repair and construction of housing, medical facilities, and schools in areas affected by incidents and disasters. The fund is formed from voluntary contributions from domestic and foreign organizations and individuals; and regulated from non-budgetary state financial funds related to response to and recovery from incidents and disasters.

The fund will support civil defense activities that the state budget has not yet invested in or has not met the requirements for; adjustments between the civil defense fund and other off-budget state financial funds will be made in urgent cases.

The government shall regulate in detail the establishment, management, and use of the civil defense fund; and the coordination between the civil defense fund and other non-budgetary state financial funds related to response to and mitigation of the consequences of incidents and disasters.

Members of the National Assembly cast their votes in the Dien Hong Hall. Photo: National Assembly Media — Members of the National Assembly cast their votes in the Dien Hong Hall. Photo: *National Assembly Media*

On the afternoon of May 24, explaining to the National Assembly some contents of the draft Law on Civil Defense, General Phan Van Giang, Minister of National Defense, said that the Government chose the option of establishing the fund before incidents occur "based on the most recent lesson learned from responding to Covid-19".

He recounted that when Covid-19 broke out, the armed forces and medical personnel were urgently instructed by the Prime Minister to establish field hospitals in the affected areas. However, some ministers said that building field hospitals at that time was very difficult, and equipment costing tens of billions of dong could not be purchased. Despite this, the military still managed to establish 16 hospitals with 500-1,000 beds in various locations from North to South thanks to the efficient use of available resources.

The Army's mobile oxygen production vehicles, typically used for special forces, were mobilized during the pandemic to produce oxygen for all hospitals. "Clearly, we need a reserve force, we need capital, we need funds; if we had only established them at that time, we would have failed," the Minister of Defense said.

According to General Phan Van Giang, the drafting agency calculated that there would be no increase in staffing because the fund would be managed by the Ministry of Finance, similar to the vaccine fund, and the Prime Minister could make a decision immediately when needed.

The Law on Civil Defense came into effect on July 1, 2024.

Son Ha

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