Prime Minister's telegram: Focus on responding to storm No. 9 and floods

The content of the Telegram is as follows:

Due to the impact of storm No. 8, on November 17-18, 2018, heavy rain and landslides occurred in some provinces of the South Central Coast, causing very heavy damage to people and property, especially in Nha Trang city, Khanh Hoa province.

On the afternoon of November 22, the tropical depression in the East Sea strengthened into a storm (storm number 9) and is moving towards the Truong Sa archipelago and the mainland of our country.

It is forecasted that storm No. 9 will continue to strengthen; on November 24 or the morning of November 25, the eye of the storm is likely to directly affect and make landfall in the South Central and Southeast provinces with the strongest winds near the eye of the storm at level 9-10, gusting to level 11-12 and causing widespread heavy rain, risk of deep flooding, flash floods, landslides in the Central and Southern Central Highlands provinces, especially in areas already affected by heavy rain from storm No. 8.

The area where the storm is expected to make landfall has many economic activities at sea, on islands and along the coast, which were severely damaged by storm No. 12 in 2017 and storm No. 8 in 2018, especially Khanh Hoa province. This is a strong storm, due to the impact of cold air, the storm's development is still very complicated, the direction of movement, intensity, and scope of influence of the storm may still change.

To proactively respond and limit damage caused by storm No. 9 and floods, the Prime Minister requested the Central Steering Committee for Natural Disaster Prevention and Control, the National Committee for Incident Response, Natural Disaster Response and Search and Rescue, relevant ministries, branches and localities in areas at risk of being affected by storms and floods to closely monitor developments, promptly direct and deploy response plans according to the "four on-site" motto, focusing on the following tasks:

1. For sea and islands:

- Continue to organize inspection and counting of boats and vehicles operating at sea, strictly manage the departure of boats (including fishing boats, transport boats, and tourist boats), especially for boats operating far from shore to guide them to avoid entering dangerous areas or call for safe shelter. Depending on the development of the storm and the specific situation in the locality, decide to implement a sea ban.

- Provide guidance on anchoring boats at shelters, deploy plans to ensure safety for people and vehicles at shelters, including for local and international vessels.

- Organize, guide reinforcement and implementation of safety measures, reduce damage to cages, aquaculture areas and seafood.

2. On land:

a) For coastal, delta and urban areas:

- Urgently review plans for evacuation and relocation of residents, prepare forces and means to deploy plans to ensure the safety of people's lives in dangerous areas, especially in coastal areas and river mouths at risk of deep flooding due to rising sea levels, waves, strong winds, landslides, on rafts, aquaculture watchtowers, areas near high towers, and unsafe houses. Absolutely do not let people stay on boats, rafts, aquaculture watchtowers when the storm hits.

- Direct and guide the bracing and reinforcement of houses, offices, schools, hospitals, warehouses, public works, especially for high columns and towers; organize tree pruning in urban areas to limit damage caused by storms.

- Implement production protection plans, focus on harvesting ripe rice areas; proactively drain water to prevent flooding in urban areas and protect agricultural production.

- Implement safety measures for constructions, ports, economic zones, industrial parks, factories, enterprises, warehouses, coastal constructions, high-rise towers, and mineral exploitation areas.

- Implement measures to protect dikes, especially dikes and sea embankments that have incidents or are under construction; ensure the safety of power and communication systems, and prepare forces and materials to respond to and promptly overcome incidents.

- Based on the specific situation in the locality, deploy plans to ensure safety for people and property for tourism activities on islands and coastal areas; decide to let students stay home from school; control traffic, especially on highways and sea-crossing bridges to ensure safety during the storm.

b) For mountainous areas, especially the Central and Central Highlands regions:

- Check areas at high risk of flash floods, landslides, and deep flooding during heavy rains; be ready to evacuate and relocate residents from dangerous areas to ensure people's safety.

- Implement measures to ensure the safety of dams and reservoirs, especially for critical dams and reservoirs. Operate irrigation and hydroelectric reservoirs appropriately to ensure the safety of works and downstream areas, while ensuring water sources for production and daily life.

- Proactively stock up on food, provisions, and essential goods in areas at risk of being isolated; prepare forces, materials, and means to overcome incidents and ensure smooth traffic on main traffic routes.

3. Some specific tasks for ministries and branches:

- The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development directs the work of ensuring safety, guiding fishermen's boats and implementing measures to protect and reduce damage to agricultural and aquatic production; protecting the safety of irrigation dams, dykes, especially for vulnerable dykes and sea embankments.

- The Ministry of Industry and Trade directs the assurance of safety for mineral and oil and gas exploration and exploitation activities at sea; safe operation of hydroelectric dams and power systems; and assurance of food, foodstuffs, and essential goods.

- The Ministry of Transport directs measures to ensure safety for ships and means of transport; proactively arranges forces, materials and equipment in key areas at risk of flooding and landslides due to heavy rains and floods to be ready to immediately handle incidents and ensure traffic on main traffic routes.

- The Ministry of Construction directs and guides measures to ensure safety for construction works, high-rise buildings, high towers, etc.

- The Ministry of Information and Communications directs the implementation of measures to ensure information system security and ensure communication to serve the direction and operation of storm response.

- The Ministry of Education and Training directs work to ensure safety for students in storm-hit areas.

- The Ministry of Foreign Affairs closely monitors the situation and proactively contacts countries and territories in the region to help and support Vietnamese fishermen and fishing vessels to take shelter from the storm to ensure safety.

- The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment closely monitors the developments of storms, floods, and rains, promptly forecasts, and provides information to people and relevant agencies to serve the direction and response work.

- The National Committee for Incident, Disaster Response and Search and Rescue, the Ministry of National Defense and the Ministry of Public Security review plans and direct units located in areas at risk of being affected by storms and floods to arrange forces and vehicles in key areas to be ready to support localities in evacuating people, conducting rescue operations when requested; ensuring security and order in storm-hit areas and traffic safety.

- The Central Steering Committee for Natural Disaster Prevention and Control coordinates with relevant agencies to closely monitor the developments of storms and floods; regularly update and announce dangerous areas so that ships and means of transport do not enter and proactively exit dangerous areas; promptly direct and urge ministries, branches and localities to deploy response measures; report to the Prime Minister for direction on handling issues beyond their authority.

- Other ministries and branches, according to their state management functions and tasks, proactively coordinate with localities to deploy storm response measures according to the "four on-site" motto, and are ready to support localities when requested.

- Vietnam Television, Voice of Vietnam and news agencies and newspapers increase broadcasting time, report on developments of storms, floods and disseminate skills to respond to storms and floods so that people and organizations can proactively prevent, combat and minimize damage./.