Lai Chau: floods victims rise to 14 hinh anh 1Search for missing people in Son Binh commune, Tam Duong district (Source: VNA)
 
Lai Chau (VNA) – Floods and landslides claimed the lives of 14 people, and left 11 missing and 11 others injured in the northern mountainous province of Lai Chau as by 16:00 on June 26.

There were two more deaths and three more injured as compared with the figures reported at 9:00 the same day, according to the Standing Office of the provincial Command on Natural Disaster Control and Search and Rescue.

The deaths included 10 in Sin Ho district; two in Nam Nhun district; one in Than Uyen district; and one in Muong Te district.

Total economic damage was estimated to hit over 300 billion VND.

Post-disaster works are being deployed to search for the missing and assist local people in their re-building efforts.

As the weather is forecast to develop in a complicated pattern, the provincial People’s Committee instructed agencies to work together to relocate 293 households living in disaster-prone areas.

Forces were required to maintain a 24-hour shift and keep a close eye on flood-hit areas in order to take prompt responses.

Other units were asked to make plans to repair damaged transport and irrigation facilities to help local people resume their daily activities.

Heavy rains have sparked floods and landslides in the northern mountainous provinces of Ha Giang and Lai Chau since June 23.

The natural disasters have together wreaked havoc in terms of lives, property, crops, breeding, and transport activities in the provinces and their neighboring localities.

On June 26, Deputy Prime Minister Trinh Dinh Dung and officials from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development made a field trip to Lai Chau to inspect post-flood work.

On June 25, the Central Steering Committee for Natural Disaster Prevention and Control issued a dispatch to instruct Lai Chau, Dien Bien, Ha Giang, Son La, Cao Bang, Bac Kan, Tuyen Quang, Yen Bai and Lao Cai provinces to enhance dissemination on natural disaster prevention through mass media, in Vietnamese and ethnic languages, in order to minimise losses due to rains and floods.

Earlier, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc also issued a dispatch asking relevant ministries, sectors and localities to focus resources on search and rescue along with activities to overcome flood consequences in northern mountainous and midland provinces.

The dispatch stressed need to safely operate reservoirs and ensure safety in dams and dykes routes in the affected localities, as well as smooth traffic on the key national roads. -VNA

VNA