A 6% deduction in GDP due to natural disasters

According to the assessment of the Steering Committee for Natural Disaster Prevention, Search and Rescue and Civil Defense of Nghe An province, in 2023, natural disasters in the area were more complicated and many extreme weather phenomena appeared.

The whole province recorded a total of 22 cold air waves; 3 periods of severe, harmful cold; 11 heat waves, intense heat; 36 tornadoes, hail, lightning, and local heavy rain. There was also a period of heavy rain on a large scale.

The frequent occurrences of extreme weather have seriously affected people's lives and socio-economy. According to statistics, 3 people died, and many people were injured; nearly 800 houses had their roofs blown off and were damaged, and many houses had to be urgently relocated; many infrastructure and traffic projects were seriously damaged; agricultural and forestry production is seriously affected...

In 2023, the focus of storms and floods is the mountainous district of Quy Chau. At the end of September, a historic flood occurred in this district, the largest extent of destruction in the past 50 years. In just a few short hours, floodwaters upstream flooded in like a waterfall, flooding occurred everywhere, instantly causing nearly VND 200 billion in damage. Generally speaking, in 2023, the entire Nghe An province lost over VND 667 billion.

Storms and floods have left many permanent concerns about the risk of insecurity of the dyke system, irrigation dams and other natural disaster prevention and control works. The task of maintaining, upgrading and building new ones is very urgent as most irrigation works have been seriously degraded. However, the limited provincial budget resources posed many difficulties in supporting disaster prevention and control.

It is estimated that the province can only allocate more than VND 140 billion from the 2023 budget reserve for the above content. Lacking money, the allocation is very small and basically does not meet the requirements.

Specifically, VND 2 billion in investment capital has just been allocated under an emergency order to build the Khe Chui bridge and roads at both ends of the bridge in Huong Son commune, Tan Ky district; VND 17 billion for repair, maintenance and urgent handling of dyke incidents in the locally managed dyke system; VND 30.5 billion to support repair of weak projects; VND 25 billion for maintenance of storm and flood projects; VND 2 billion to build a dike lookout point and a warehouse for flood and storm prevention materials in Do Luong town, Do Luong district (phase 1); nearly VND 4 billion is used to repair and upgrade the Bara Nghi Quang of the Nam irrigation system...

The echoes of 2023 have not ended, Nghe An now has to urgently develop a response plan for 2024, which is not expected to be very smooth.

In more detail, from March to May 2024, the water level on rivers in Nghe An changes slowly, the middle stream fluctuates according to reservoir regulation, and the downstream is influenced by the tides. The amount of flow on rivers from March to May 2024 is likely to be 10 - 40% lower than the average for the same period. In particular, in May, it is necessary to prevent local water shortages and saltwater intrusion occurring in delta and coastal districts.

From June to September, rivers in Nghe An are likely to have 2-3 floods. During this period, it is necessary to prevent high risks of flash floods, landslides in mountainous areas and local flooding in low-lying areas...

Experts say that the impact of global climate change makes the path of natural disasters increasingly complex and unpredictable. natural disasters can happen at any time and pose a big challenge for the entire Nghe An province. For that reason, this locality identifies natural disaster prevention as a particularly important task of the entire political system.

Deputy Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Le Cong Thanh has just signed Decision No. 552 on Promulgating the Plan to implement the Project on Early Warning of Landslides and Flash Floods in Mountainous and Midland Areas of Vietnam. It will be used as a basis for assigning and directing relevant units under the Ministry to implement the content and tasks in Decision No. 1262 of the Prime Minister.