Vietnam braces for extreme weather

Vietnam is among the ten countries and territories most affected by extreme weather events in the past two decades. Between 1999 and 2019, there were 100 natural disasters recorded in the country, causing VND441 trillion (US$19.1 million) in losses to its economy.

Tran Quang Hoai, deputy head of the National Steering Committee for Natural Disaster Prevention and Control and head of General Department of Disaster Prevention said storms and floods are the most frequent and dangerous types of natural disasters.

He cited the great flood of 1971 which claimed the lives of 100,000 people in the Mekong Delta and typhoon Linda in 1971 which killed more than 3,000 people in the southern region.

According to the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, Vietnam was hit by 500 storms between 1961 and 2014. Some storms have been recorded with strong winds of 165-200 kilometers per hour with rainfall reaching 1,000mm in the coastal areas from Quang Ninh to Thua Thien-Hue provinces.

Storms cause damage to fishermen who fish at sea, devastate aquaculture establishments and dyke systems which help prevent saline water intrusion into fields and residential areas. Houses, infrastructure, fruit trees, and crops, especially in the Red River Delta and Central region were also affected.

Drought is likely to become fiercer

Along with storms, saltwater intrusion is also threatening agricultural production areas. Last year, South Central regions including Khanh Hoa, Ninh Thuan, and Binh Thuan provinces experienced an unprecedented drought. More than 46,000 hectares of crops had been abandoned to prioritize water for daily life and livestock.

Excessive heat and reduced rainfall have prompted Binh Thuan and Ninh Thuan provinces to announce the drought risk at second and third levels.

In mid-May last year, 21 reservoirs of Ninh Thuan Province were almost run dry while 17 reservoirs of Binh Thuan Provinces were at 4.3 percent of their capacity.

Due to a shortage of water for domestic use, in some places, people had to buy water with prices ranging from VND60,000 ($2.6) to 120,000 ($5.2).

In the north-central region, drought and water scarcity have forced Thanh Hoa and Nghe An provinces to restructure around 8,200 ha of 2020 summer-autumn crop. The area suffering from the drought reached 25,970 ha.

Forty-eight forest fires were recorded since the beginning of the 2019-2020 dry season, affecting 194ha of forest.

“Prolong drought, along with water scarcity have affected more than 100 hectares of summer-autumn of rice in 2020. ” said Phan Thanh Huong, vice chairman of Chau Hoa Commune in Quang Binh Province’s Tuyen Hoa District.

He also said adding that crop failure and hunger 

There were two historical droughts and saltwater intrusions in the Mekong River Delta from 2015 to 2020. 

Most provinces in the Mekong Delta had a 2015-2016 winter-spring crop loss.

The image of Kenh Lap, the Mekong Delta’s largest manmade freshwater lake in Ben Tre Province, is dry is evidence of the severe drought and saline intrusion in the region.

The reservoir, which has capacity of more than one million cubic meters of water, is designed to supply water to more than 200,000 people living in 24 communes and towns for household usage, and industrial and irrigation purposes.

Last year, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc decided to allocate VND 530 billion from the central budget’s reserve to support eight coastal provinces in the Mekong Delta in carrying out natural disasters prevention and control tasks.

Over the past few years, more extreme disasters have occurred in Vietnam. The capital city of Hanoi experienced showers on New Year's Eve with an average rainfall of 140mm, an event that never occurred before.

Hail storms reported in seven northern provinces on the first day of the Lunar New Year have damaged 12,000 houses and destroyed thousands of hectares of crops.

Weather experts said that the emergency of thunderstorms and hail in the first days of the Lunar New Year showed an abnormal change in the weather because New Year's Eve in the northern region is often associated with drizzle. The fact that the cold wave appeared in late April in the north and the temperature in Hanoi dropped to 16.5 Degree Celsius, the lowest temperature in 50 years, is another piece of evidence.