Senior Lieutenant General Phan Van Giang: Forces must ensure close proximity to the base and situations in flood and storm prevention.

Senior Lieutenant General Phan Van Giang - Member of the Party Central Committee, Member of the Central Military Commission, Chief of the General Staff of the Vietnam People's Army, Deputy Minister of National Defense chaired the conference.

At Nghe An bridge, chaired by Colonel Nguyen Ngoc Ha - Member of the Provincial Party Committee, Commander of the Provincial Military Command.

Last October, the provincesCentral regioncontinuously affected and severely damaged by storms No. 6, 7, 8, 9 and storm circulation caused prolonged heavy rains, causing flood waters to rise, widespread flooding, landslides and rockslides in many places from Nghe An to Quang Nam.

Colonel Nguyen Ngoc Ha - Member of the Provincial Party Committee, Commander of the Provincial Military Command chaired at the Nghe An bridge. Photo: Hoang Anh

The natural disaster left 234 people dead or missing; of which, Military Region 4 had 11 officers and soldiers sacrificed while performing rescue missions at the site.Rao Trang 3 Hydropower Plant, Thua Thien Hue province and 22 officers and soldiers sacrificed at Economic - Defense Group 337, Quang Tri province. More than 500,000 houses collapsed, damaged and flooded; damage to trees, crops, livestock and poultry cannot be fully counted at this time.

The Ministry of National Defense has directed functional agencies and units, the Military Region 4 and Military Region 5 Commands to deploy synchronously, drastically, promptly, mobilize all resources, coordinate with local Party committees and authorities to effectively implement the "4 on-site" motto to promptly respond to storms, floods and other situations.

Senior Lieutenant General Phan Van Giang concluded at the conference.

Directed the provision of many equipment and means for disaster response and search and rescue to the Central provinces in the areas of Military Region 4 and Military Region 5 and provided necessities to the people in the affected areas. Of which, 32 sets of pumps, 1,200 cartons of instant noodles, 2 tons of rice, 77.5 tons of dry food, 20 lifeboats, 200 generators, 4,750 life jackets and some other civilian items were provided to units and localities in the provinces of Ha Tinh, Quang Binh, Quang Tri, Thua Thien Hue, Quang Nam, worth nearly 100 billion VND.

Concluding the conference, Senior Lieutenant General Phan Van Giang emphasized and highly appreciated the efforts of officers and soldiers who were not afraid of difficulties and hardships, always taking the lead in difficult and dangerous places to carry out rescue missions, protecting people's lives and property.

Lieutenant General Tran Vo Dung - Political Commissar of Military Region 4 and the working delegation of Military Region 4 visited and presented 3 tons of rice to people affected by floods in Hanh Lam and Thanh My communes of Thanh Chuong district. Photo: Document

Soldiers help people escape floods in Vinh City. Photo: Archive

Among them, the officers and soldiers of Military Region 4 and Military Region 5 stand out. They are a solid support for local Party committees, authorities and people. The Chief of the General Staff also praised the propaganda and press forces inside and outside the Army for bravely overcoming difficulties and dangers, being present in all directions to promptly inform the mass media about the difficulties and losses of the people; the contributions and selfless sacrifices of "Uncle Ho's soldiers" to help the people during natural disasters and floods.

At the conference, Senior Lieutenant General Phan Van Giang also presented a number of key contents in performing the tasks of natural disaster prevention, rescue and relief in the coming time, emphasizing the training work to improve professional qualifications for the forces to ensure closeness to the base, closeness to the situation; safety work; force organization; regimes, policies and propaganda work./.