Khanh Hoa province braces for natural disasters

Khanh Hoa (VNA) – The People’s Committee of the central coastal province of Khanh Hoa has ordered departments, branches and local authorities to carry out measures to respond to unusual weather patterns in 2018.

Authorities at all levels should inspect and identify flood-risk and landslide-prone areas while setting up plans to evacuate local residents from regions that are affected by rising sea levels spurred by typhoons to safer places.

Due attention must be paid to arranging relevant forces to enhance inspections and speed up measures preventing natural calamities in dangerous localities.

In case of storms and tropical depressions, communal authorities should join hands with the border guards to grasp the exact number of aquatic breeding cages, fishing vessels and local fishermen who are operating offshore. Prompt support should be put in place for the fishermen.

Training and rehearsals should be organised for relevant forces while stockpiling of essential items like food, fuel, medicine and water must be paid due attention.

Khanh Hoa is currently home to nearly 30 reservoirs with total capacity of 250 million cubic metres, many of them have been degraded and pose great threats to local livelihoods. However, limited financial resources hamper repairs of the reservoirs.

Relevant authorities are required to manage and give timely response in case the reservoirs break out.

The provincial military high command is asked to set up rational search and rescue plan and help localities recover the aftermath of the disasters.

Last year, storm Damrey, the 12th typhoon hitting Vietnam in the year, wreaked havocs on the coastline of Khanh Hoa province. It destroyed 302 homes and blew the roofs off nearly 25,500 others, including 8,759 in Nha Trang city, 5,800 in Van Ninh district and 7,173 in Khanh Vinh district. There was also extensive damage to 3,748 hectares of rice, 1,200 hectares of wheat, 1,119 hectares of other crops and over 35,000 aquatic cages.

According to reports of localities and ministries, up to 27 of the deaths were in the province, where the centre of Damrey was recorded when the storm made landfall.-VNA