9 solutions for natural disaster prevention and control against extreme weather

On May 10, Deputy Prime Minister Tran Luu Quang, Chairman of the National Steering Committee on Natural Disaster Prevention and Control and Chairman of the National Committee for Disaster Incident Response and Search and Rescue, chaired a national conference on natural disaster prevention and control, search and rescue in 2024.

The conference had the participation of leaders of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and many related ministries and branches and was connected online to 63 provinces and municipal cities.

Change awareness

After listening to reports and sharing opinions from Ministries, branches, and localities, Deputy Prime Minister Tran Luu Quang said that in 2023, although there were no storms making landfall, there were many forms of extreme weather, such as heatwaves, drought, saltwater intrusion, landslides, etc.

Therefore, in the coming time, it is necessary to closely monitor the weather situation and be proactive in directing response work. The Deputy Prime Minister also commented that the quality of hydrometeorological forecasts in recent times has improved, along with the initiative in many jobs and at many levels to prevent and control natural disasters.

However, the Chairman of the National Steering Committee on Natural Disaster Prevention and Control also pointed out some shortcomings and limitations, such as insufficient awareness of both people and officials and subjective psychology.

In addition, the work of inspecting, supervising, and urging before the rainy and flood seasons is not implemented well in some places. It must also be mentioned that some regulations are overlapping and too old, and the resilience of the infrastructure system is still limited on a national level.

Facing that situation, Deputy Prime Minister Tran Luu Quang raised nine tasks and solutions for preventing, controlling, and overcoming the consequences of natural disasters in the new period.

First, strengthen the organization and apparatus with the motto of being more effective, faster, and stronger. Second, assign the Ministry of National Defense to coordinate with Ministries and branches to develop a decree guiding the implementation of the Law on Civil Defense.

Third, perfect the legal document system; in addition to editing, it can also be replaced. Fourth, it is especially important to promote communication and information to raise people's awareness.

Fifth and sixth, strengthen the inspection and supervision work before the rainy and flood season and review natural disaster prevention and control scenarios in localities, Ministries, and branches. Seventh, the Deputy Prime Minister requested forecasting agencies improve the quality of the information, making it as timely and accurate as possible.

Eighth, Ministries, branches, and localities also need to improve their operating capacity and mobilize resources to prevent, control, and overcome the consequences of natural disasters.

The ninth solution that the Deputy Prime Minister mentioned is the companionship of international organizations. This could be exchanging experience and information for Vietnam or supporting professional training, especially in forecasting work.

International organizations can also provide additional support in terms of equipment and infrastructure for Vietnam to improve capacity and reduce damage in natural disaster prevention and control.

Floods in 2024 will be fierce

According to information at the conference, in 2023, on a national scale, there were 1,964 natural disasters and 5,331 incidents, causing 1,129 deaths and missing people (of which natural disasters caused 169 deaths and missing people) and economic losses of more than VND 9,300 billion.

Since the beginning of 2024, the whole country has experienced many deep cold spells, drought, saltwater intrusion, hail, thunderstorms, and heatwaves, leaving 14 people dead or missing. Material damage was estimated at more than VND 399 billion.

Assessing the work of natural disaster prevention and control in 2023, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Le Minh Hoan, Standing Deputy Chairman of the National Steering Committee on Natural Disaster Prevention and Control, affirmed that Ministries, branches, and localities took drastic action to direct the work of preventing, responding to, and overcoming the consequences of natural disasters.

In 2023, the Prime Minister signed and issued 16 official telegrams. The Steering Committee - National Committee, Standing Office of the Steering Committee issued 64 official telegrams and documents directing Ministries, branches, and localities to respond to natural disasters.

The Prime Minister has decided to support VND 8,500 billion from the central budget reserve in 2023 for 43 provinces and cities to prevent, control, and overcome the consequences of natural disasters and landslides. After each natural disaster, leaders of the Party, the State, the Government, and the Steering Committee, along with local leaders at all levels, went to the scene to encourage, visit the damaged people, and inspect the work of overcoming the consequences to soon stabilize people's lives.

At the conference, Mr. Hoang Duc Cuong, Deputy General Director of the Viet Nam Meteorological and Hydrological Administration (Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment), stated that the ENSO phenomenon (changes in sea surface temperature only in the eastern equatorial region and Central Pacific) is maintaining a neutral state until June with a probability of 80–85%.

From July to September, ENSO is forecast to change to La Nina with a probability of 60–65% and is likely to maintain this state at the end of the year. It is assessed that such a change in state will cause this year's drought, floods, thunderstorms, and hail to be similar to 2020, with characteristics such as a late rainy and flood season; storms and tropical depression that appear continuously in a short period of time; etc.

Specifically, the meteorological agency forecasts that there will be 11–13 storms and tropical depressions in the East Sea, of which 5-7 will affect the mainland of Vietnam this year. From now until the first half of June, it is less likely to appear storms and tropical depressions, but focus on the second half of the storm season from September to November 2024. Particularly, heavy rain is likely to concentrate in the last months of the year in the Central Region.

The flood season in the Central and Central Highlands river basins is expected to be similar to the average for many years. The flood peak in 2024 downstream of the Ma River (Thanh Hoa) and Ca River (Nghe An, Ha Tinh) is at alert levels 1–2. The downstream of the main rivers from Quang Binh to Quang Ngai, Binh Dinh, and Khanh Hoa is on alert levels 2–3. The rivers in Phu Yen, Ninh Thuan, and Binh Thuan are on alert level 2 (the highest is alert level 3).

In Yen Bai, Standing Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee Nguyen The Phuoc, Deputy Head of the Provincial Commanding Committee for Natural Disaster Prevention and Control and Search and Rescue, attended and spoke at the conference.

Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee Nguyen The Phuoc said: "Yen Bai is a Northern mountainous province with complex geological terrain, high hills and mountains, steep slopes, strong fragmentation, and is often affected by natural disasters such as flash floods, landslides, hail with thunderstorms, deep cold, etc."

In recent years, extreme weather, floods, and flash floods have occurred with greater frequency and intensity, causing great damage to people and property in the area. Particularly, the flash flood in August 2023 in the 3 communes of Ho Bon, Lao Chai, and Khao Mang (Mu Cang Chai district) killed 3 people, collapsed, and completely washed away 57 houses.

Thereby, the Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee also stated the shortcomings, limitations, and difficulties in preventing, responding to, and overcoming the consequences of flash floods and landslides in the area.

At the same time, propose the Prime Minister, the Central Steering Committee on Natural Disaster Prevention and Control, Ministries, and central branches to continue to pay attention to supporting funds to overcome the consequences of natural disasters for the province; supporting funds to build resettlement areas for damaged people and relocate people in emergency situations.