Vietnam suffers high losses due to natural disasters

During the meeting (Photo: HNMO)

The figures were announced during a meeting held on July 9^th by the Central Steering Committee for Natural Disaster Prevention and Control, which reviewed work in the first half and carried out that in the second this year.

Talking about the reason for the losses, representatives said that apart from climate change which led to unusual development of natural disasters, some residents and grassroots authorities were still negligent in preventing the consequences of the natural disasters, while forecast and warnings did not match increasingly high demand and the resistance of the infrastructure is still poor.

According to the committee, in the second half of this year, there are expected to be some 12-13 storms in the East Sea, 4-5 of which may directly impact the mainland. Meanwhile, diverse large floods may occur and landslides and flashfloods are also forecast in river and stream areas.

To restrict losses during natural disasters, especially during landslides and flashfloods in mountainous areas, delegates at the meeting agreed that it was necessary to reinforce the natural disaster prevention and rescue forces, especially those in villages; enhance dissemination of natural disasters to raise communities’ awareness; and increase investment in technical infrastructure to heighten the quality of forecasting get for natural disasters.

Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Nguyen Xuan Cuong, who is the Head of the Central Steering Committee for Natural Disaster Prevention and Control, asked hydro-meteorological forecasting agencies to invest more in equipment and promote international cooperation for increased forecast and warning of natural disasters./.