INTRODUCTION      GUIDELINE MANUAL AND TOOLS      FLOOD PREPAREDNESS PROGRAM      PRIORITY PROJECT      TRAINING PACKAGE AND MANUAL      FLOOD AWARENESS AND EDUCATION      TRANS BOUNDARY ACTIVITIES      KNOWLEDGE SHARING AND DOCUMENTATION      PROJECT PROGRESS   ECHO IV   FEMS Phase II             International Workshop 23-25 February 2011 Luang Prabang, Lao PDR                              SEARCH		CAMBODIA |  LAO PDR | THAILAND | VIETNAM   As the impacts of hazardous events traverse both geographical and political boundaries, the importance of building trans-boundary cooperation and mechanisms across administrative borders becomes imperative. Any development schemes along the river, flood management interventions or water utilization activities of one country can have grave impacts on the flood severity in a neighbouring or downstream country. Establishing trans-boundary and cross-border partnerships eases the process of response, enables mutually beneficial development/ flood risk reduction initiatives to take place between the neighbouring nations, makes available combined resources and expertise to move assistance fluidly across borders during emergencies and speeds up recovery. Moreover, information exchange and cross-border early warning systems can be of great benefits in terms of providing forecasts or predictions and subsequently enable appropriate preparatory measures to be taken.