Illustrative photo. (Source: VNA)Hanoi (VNA) – The south-central coastal region, the most disaster-prone in Vietnam, must focus on improving disaster forecasting so early warnings can be produced to facilitate proactive response, an official told the Vietnam News Agency.
Last November, the region was severely hit by torrential rains and flooding, leaving dozens of people dead and missing.
The National Strategy on Natural Disaster Prevention and Control for the 2021 – 2030 period, with a vision towards 2045, highlights tasks and solutions to help the region prevent and mitigate impacts of natural disasters, particularly storm, flood, drought, landslide, and coastal and river erosion, said Tang Quoc Chinh, Director of the Department of Disaster Safety Control under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development’s Vietnam Disaster Management Authority. Focus must be placed on improving disaster forecasting to produce early warnings and proactive response, he said.
Rescuers use a boat to move children to safety in Vietnam. Illustrative photo. (Source: VNA)The region needs to develop a multi-disaster warning system to monitor rainfall, flood, landslide and others, while providing guidelines for building disaster-resilient structures and evacuation shelters and financially supporting disadvantaged households to construct storm- and flood-resistant houses, he noted.
It must enhance the effectiveness of risk zoning, establish a communal-level disaster warning map and tighten control on construction of housing and infrastructure, particularly coastal and riverside tourist sites, he suggested, adding more attention should be paid to forest management, protection and development, preservation of coastal sand dunes and shift to disaster-resilient farming.
In the long run, the region should harmonise disaster response efforts among state management agencies and advisory bodies and build capacity for governmental staff specialised in natural disaster prevention and control, while applying advanced technology and developing database in this matter, the official added./.
