Mu Cang Chai district following a flash flood (Photo: VNA) Hanoi (VNA) – PrimeMinister Pham Minh Chinh on August 8 signed a dispatch requesting efforts toprevent, control and mitigate damage from landslides, riverbank and coastalerosion, and flash floods.
In the document, the PM asked ministers,chairpersons of People’s Committees of centrally-run cities and provinces andheads of relevant agencies to fully grasp the situation and proactively take necessarymeasures within their authority.
In the immediate future, they must take severalurgent measures to ensure the safety of residents in areas highly prone tolandslides and flash floods, including evacuating them and their assets to safeareas, providing them with food and necessities, and raising public awarenessof the effort, especially in remote, mountainous, border, island and ethnicminority areas.
In the long term, localities need to closely controlurban planning and construction activities, especially houses and structures inareas with sloping terrain, along rivers, streams, canals, coastal zones, andregions at risk of geological hazards. They were urged to prohibit and strictlydeal with violations related to the land use and management, forest protectionand construction in protected and special-use forests, and illegal mineralextraction.
The PM ordered building projects and allocating resources for sustainableprojects aimed at preventing and mitigating landslides.
Thechairpersons of the provincial People's Committees must be held accountable tothe PM and the law for any lack of responsibility for leadership and directionthat leads to severe loss of lives and property of the people.
Specific tasks were also assigned to ministries, agencies concernedand the press.
Since early July, landslides, flash floods, riverbank andcoastal erosion have caused severe damage to human lives, assets andproperties, roads and infrastructure facilities, particularly in the CentralHighlands, northern mountainous and Mekong Delta localities./.
