Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee Nguyen Duc Trung: It is necessary to promote '4 on-site' in natural disaster prevention and control

On the afternoon of May 6, the Provincial People's Committee held an online conference with 20 connecting points of districts, cities and towns to summarize the work of natural disaster prevention, control and search and rescue in 2019 and deploy tasks in 2020. Comrades Nguyen Duc Trung - Deputy Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee, Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee, Head of the Provincial Steering Committee for Natural Disaster Prevention and Control and Search and Rescue; Hoang Nghia Hieu - Member of the Provincial Party Committee, Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee, Deputy Head of the Standing Committee of the Provincial Steering Committee for Natural Disaster Prevention and Control and Search and Rescue; Nguyen Van De - Director of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, Deputy Head of the Provincial Steering Committee for Natural Disaster Prevention and Control and Search and Rescue co-chaired the conference.

Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee Nguyen Duc Trung gave a speech at the conference. Photo: Thu Huyen

Natural disasterseconomic damage over 800billion dong

In 2019, natural disasters did not occur frequently and fiercely but had many extreme and abnormal factors across all regions of the country. During the year, Nghe An province was affected by 19 cold air waves, including 17 northeast monsoons; 16 tornadoes, lightning, hail; 11 heat waves from April to July, with common high temperatures ranging from 38 - 41⁰C, some places over 42⁰C and was directly affected by two major natural disasters (Storm No. 4 - ATND from August 28 to September 5 and heavy rain from October 14 to 16).

The natural disaster killed 9 people, injured 10 people, collapsed 33 houses, damaged and had the roofs blown off 1,583 houses; damaged 56 classrooms and functional rooms; damaged thousands of hectares of rice, corn, vegetables and aquatic products; many livestock and poultry died; 4,505m of riverbank was eroded; 3,835m of dikes and embankments were damaged; many lakes and small irrigation dams were eroded and silted; more than 80km of traffic was damaged and eroded... Estimated economic damage was about 811.5 billion VND.

Online conference at the Provincial People's Committee bridge. Photo: Thu Huyen

In addition, there were 51 accidents and incidents involving ships at sea, damaging 31 vehicles, sinking 8 vehicles; 20 people were injured, 12 people died, and 6 people went missing.

Reporting at the conference, Director of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, Deputy Head of the Provincial Steering Committee for Disaster Prevention and Control Nguyen Van De said that although natural disasters are complicated, the work of natural disaster prevention and control continues to receive serious attention and direction from the Provincial Party Committee and the Provincial People's Committee. The Provincial Steering Committee for Disaster Prevention and Control together with sectors, localities and units have implemented drastically, synchronously, and prepared well for all three stages of prevention, response and overcoming consequences. Thanks to that, many losses in terms of human life and property have been limited, and a safe society has been gradually built against natural disasters.

Colonel Tran Hai Binh - Commander of the Provincial Border Guard Command said that due to the impact of the epidemic, disaster prevention and control work this year will be more difficult. Photo: Thu Huyen

The Provincial People's Committee has allocated 40.65 billion VND from the provincial reserve fund to support localities and units in repairing weak works and purchasing equipment for disaster prevention and control and search and rescue work; and allocated 26.78 billion VND from the Provincial Disaster Prevention Fund to support localities in implementing activities to prevent, respond to and overcome the consequences of natural disasters.

Continue to promote the motto "4 on-site"

Speaking at the conference, Mr. Nguyen Xuan Tien - Deputy Director of the North Central Hydrometeorological Station stated that climate change affects our country faster and stronger, causing natural disasters to become more extreme, unusual, and irregular in all regions throughout the year. Heat waves are continuously breaking records, each year is hotter than the previous year.

Forecasting the average temperature in the first 6 months of 2020 in the North Central region, the Deputy Director of the North Central Hydrometeorological Station said that it is likely to be higher than the average of many years in the same period, commonly from 0.5 - 1.5^oC. From March to June, total rainfall is 10 - 20% lower than the average of many years; in July 2020 alone, total rainfall is 15 - 30% higher.

Deputy Director of the North Central Hydrometeorological Station Nguyen Xuan Tien gives weather forecasts for the coming time. Photo: Thu Huyen

Speaking at the conference, Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee Nguyen Duc Trung affirmed that Nghe An is a large province, often affected by natural disasters, so disaster prevention and control must be given special attention and considered an important and regular task of the entire political system.

Recognizing the impact of global climate change, natural disasters are increasingly complex and unpredictable and can occur at any time, the Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee requested that from now on, departments, branches, localities and units need to focus on implementing preparations for disaster prevention and control in 2020. Strengthen the Disaster Prevention and Control and Search and Rescue Command Committees at all levels, assigning disaster prevention and control tasks to localities and units.

Le Nin Street (Vinh City) was deeply flooded during heavy rain on October 16 and 17, 2019. Photo: Archive

Develop, update, supplement, and approve disaster prevention and control plans and response plans for each level of natural disaster risk for each sector, armed forces, People's Committees of districts, cities, towns, units, and projects. Deploy and expand disaster prevention and control teams in each commune, village, and hamlet with the militia and self-defense force as the core to proactively respond to and overcome the consequences of natural disasters from the very first hour.

The Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee awarded Certificates of Merit to collectives with outstanding achievements in PCTT&TKCN work in the province. Photo: Thu Huyen

The Head of the Provincial Steering Committee for Disaster Prevention and Control also proposed to strengthen training and drills for disaster prevention and control, seriously implement inspection and preparation work at all levels according to the "4 on-site" motto; Promote the collection and effective use of the Disaster Prevention and Control Fund; Prioritize the use of the Disaster Prevention and Control Fund in disaster prevention, response and recovery activities; strengthen propaganda on disaster prevention and control for all classes of people...

Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee Hoang Nghia Hieu awarded Certificates of Merit to individuals. Photo: Thu Huyen

Regarding the support proposals of localities and units to repair weak works and purchase equipment for PCTT&TKCN in 2020, the Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee assigned the Department of Finance, the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development and localities to continue to pay attention, review and prioritize really urgent works.

On this occasion, the Provincial People's Committee awarded Certificates of Merit to 7 collectives and 10 individuals with outstanding achievements in PCTT&TKCN work in 2019./.