Five lessons from response to typhoon Yagi to be drawn

At a hybrid conference  held on September 28 with representatives of 26 northern provinces and centrally-run cities , ministries and central agencies  to draw lessons from the response to recent Typhoon Yagi and subsequent rains and floods. Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh stressed that typhoon Yagi and subsequent rains, floods and landslides left very heavy losses of life and property, and badly affected the health, life and spirit of the people.

Highlighting the swift and coordinated response to the typhoon, the PM noted that immediately after it made landfall, the Politburo, under the direction of Party General Secretary and State President To Lam, convened a meeting and issued a directive to guide disaster relief efforts. The Government held several conferences and meetings, while government leaders conducted on-site inspections of affected areas and convened meetings to direct response efforts.

Following a conference on September 15, the Government issued Resolution No.143/NQ-CP on September 17, outlining key tasks and solutions to urgently remedy the disaster consequences, focusing on supporting victims, restoring production and business, propelling economic growth, controlling inflation, and ensuring major economic balances.

The PM praised Cabinet members, ministers, and local authorities, particularly the military and public security forces, relevant ministries, electricity and telecommunications sectors, for their effective response on-the-ground.

The Government leader also expressed gratitude to the people for their continuous support, solidarity, and trust in the Party and State during the response to the typhoon.

The PM urged participants to contribute their opinions, identify shortcomings, and draw experiences in the forecasting, prevention and control, response and settlement of consequences of the typhoon.

He also asked delegates to put forth tasks and solutions to soon stabilize the situation, support the people, restore production and business, promote economic growth and well control inflation.

According to the Ministry of Planning and Investment, as of September 27, typhoon Yagi, the third to enter the East Sea this year, and circulation caused floods and landslides, left 318 people dead, 26 people reported missing, and 1,976 others injured. Damage to property of the people and the state was estimated at over  VND81 trillion  (around $3.29 billion).  About 282,000 houses, 3,755 schools and school sites were damaged, unroofed, flooded, or buried. Some 285,000 hectares of rice, crops, and fruit trees were flooded and damaged; 189,982 hectares of forest were damaged; 11,832 aquaculture cages were damaged or swept away; and 5.6 million cattle and poultry were killed.

Many infrastructure projects collapsed and were damaged such as: 14 incidents of 500kV lines, 40 incidents of 220kV lines, 190 incidents of 110kV lines; 1,678 incidents of medium voltage lines; 8,290 fiber optic cable lines were damaged; 210 telecommunications antenna poles were broken; 9,235 BTS stations lost contact. There were 796 dyke incidents in 15 provinces and cities; 820 locations on national highways were congested and many intra-provincial roads were eroded. About 3,517 irrigation and water supply works were damaged.

The work of supporting people to overcome the consequences of the typhoon and floods and stabilize their lives has been proactively and promptly implemented. Infrastructure has been basically restored. The Government decided to provide 400 tons of rice and VND350 billion (over $14.2 million) to localities to overcome the consequences of the natural disasters. By the end of September 23, organizations and individuals  nationwide have handed over or transferred to the account of the Central Relief Mobilization Committee a total amount of  more than VND1.7 trillion (over $69 million) to support residents affected by the storm and floods. The provincial and municipal Relief Mobilization Committees of 26 localities have received over  VND1.65 trillion (over $67 million). Many organizations, individuals and philanthropists have donated funds and goods to support people affected by the storm and floods. Many countries and international organizations have pledged to support Vietnam in overcoming the consequences of the natural disasters.

In his closing speech, PM Chinh pointed out five lessons learned in the work of responding to natural disasters. In particular, forecasting and warning must be timely, accurate, early and from afar; leadership and direction must be closely following reality, resolute, decisive, daring to think, daring to do, daring to take responsibility, directing with focus, key points, all for the benefit of the State and the people; putting the goal of protecting the lives, health, and property of the State and the people above all, first of all to mobilize all resources for the work of preventing, combating, responding to, and overcoming the consequences of storms and floods; ministries, branches, and localities must base on their functions, tasks, powers, and instructions at all levels to proactively prevent, combat, and overcome the consequences of natural disasters; in particular, focus must be placed on the communication work, information, forecasting, warning, and guidance on skills for preventing, combating, responding to, and overcoming the consequences of natural disasters.