National conference on disaster prevention, control and search and rescue

The conference was chaired by Comrade Le Van Thanh - Member of the Party Central Committee, Deputy Prime Minister, Head of the Central Steering Committee on Natural Disaster Prevention and Control, Chairman of the National Committee for Natural Disaster Response and Search and Rescue.

At Nghe An bridge, the conference was chaired by Comrade Hoang Nghia Hieu - Member of the Provincial Party Committee, Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee; Colonel Pham Van Dung - Deputy Chief of Staff of Military Region 4; Mr. Nguyen Van De - Member of the Provincial Party Committee, Director of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development; and representatives of relevant departments and branches.

Panoramic view of Nghe An bridge. Photo: Tien Dong

In Vietnam, 2020natural disastersoccurred in a rapid and especially fierce manner, with many abnormal factors, exceeding historical levels in many regions of the country, including 14 storms, 1 tropical depression; 120 stormsflash floods, landslides; 90 earthquakes... Natural disasters have left 357 people dead and missing; 3,429 houses collapsed; 333,084 houses damaged, roofs blown off... total damage of over 39,962 billion VND.

In addition to material damage, natural disasters also affect the living environment, health, production and people's lives, hinder trade, and disrupt the provision of essential services in many areas.

In 2020, natural disasters in Nghe An killed 17 people, injured 13 people, collapsed 54 houses... causing damage of more than 1,300 billion VND. Photo: BNA documents

In Nghe An alone, 2020 was a year of natural disasters.very complicated developments. Since the beginning of the year, there have been extreme weather phenomena such as severe cold, thunderstorms, tornadoes, lightning, hail... with 31 cold spells, 2 severe cold spells, 11 heat waves, droughts; 15 thunderstorms, tornadoes, lightning, hail; at times over 70 days without rain, causing the water level of many lakes, dams, rivers and streams in the province to drop to alarming levels, making it difficult to get water for summer-autumn crop production. In addition, during the rainy season, there have been many heavy rains causing flooding and damage to many localities in the province.

In particular, in Nghe An, natural disasters have killed 17 people and injured 13 others. Natural disasters have caused great damage to agricultural and forestry production and infrastructure, with economic losses of about 1,327 billion VND.

At the conference, representatives of Ha Giang, Thanh Hoa, Ca Mau and Quang Nam provinces made recommendations to the Government that it is necessary to develop a long-term strategy for natural disaster prevention and control.

In particular, for localities that often encounter typical types of natural disasters such as landslides, flash floods, storms, and coastal erosion, especially in the Central provinces from Nghe An to Quang Ngai, the system of natural disaster prevention works needs to be invested in, gradually improving the resilience of the works. It is necessary to build an early warning system for localities that often experience landslides and flash floods. At the same time, strengthen the means and equipment for natural disaster prevention, search and rescue.

Deputy Prime Minister Le Van Thanh delivered a concluding speech at the online conference. Photo: Tien Dong

Concluding the conference, Deputy Prime Minister Le Van Thanh acknowledged the opinions of ministries, branches and localities in the work of natural disaster prevention, search and rescue. The Deputy Prime Minister highly appreciated the ministries, branches, localities and forces for being active and proactive in the work of prevention, contributing to the mitigation of natural disasters.

The Deputy Prime Minister also directed that localities need to strengthen the Steering Committee for Natural Disaster Prevention and Control, associated with the head. Allocate resources, increase investment in equipment and tools to support the forces working on natural disaster prevention and control in the locality. Direct the review, inspection and development of plans to ensure the safety of natural disaster prevention works, especially the dyke system, dams. Prepare plans to respond to natural disasters to avoid being passive and surprised, and at the same time organize monitoring of the work of overcoming consequences, recovery and reconstruction after natural disasters.