Vessels at sea told to seek safe shelter to avoid Typhoon Goni

Hanoi (VNA) - Deputy Prime Minister Trinh Dinh Dung on November 2 asked authorised agencies and coastal localities to immediately direct vessels at sea to move to safe shelter and to evacuate people from aquatic farms at sea and at-risk areas to avoid the worst of Typhoon Goni, the 10th storm to appear in the East Sea this year.

He made the request at a meeting to identify measures to respond to the typhoon, forecast to bring torrential rains to Vietnam’s central region which is currently struggling to overcome the consequences of the recent devastating floods.

After hitting the southern part of Luzon island in the Philippines on November 1, killing at least 10 people and displacing over 390,000, Goni is predicted to make landfall in Vietnam on November 5. At 7 am on October 3, the storm is forecast be about 300 km east-southeast of Vietnam’s Hoang Sa (Paracel) archipelago and will continue to move west-northwest at a speed of 15-20 km/h.

Deputy PM Dung, who is also head of the National Steering Committee for Natural Disaster Prevention and Control, told localities to brace for the storm and, at the same time, continue to overcome the consequences of recent natural calamities.

It is necessary to ensure safety at reservoirs, irrigation systems, and dyke networks, he stressed, asking public security and military forces to work closely with localities in preparing against Typhoon Goni and addressing the consequences, especially in search and rescue efforts.

He urged the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment to soon complete a map on areas with a high risk of landslides and flooding.

When discussing the recent devastating landslides, Deputy Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Le Cong Thanh said that a map for northern and north-central localities has been made for the 2019-2020 period.

The ministry will this year work closely with relevant agencies and central Quang Nam and Quang Ngai provinces to expand the map.

Earlier, on October 31, the national committee sent a dispatch to steering committees in cities and provinces from Thanh Hoa south to Khanh Hoa, asking for a strengthening of measures to respond to Typhoon Goni.

According to Major General Le Quang Dao, Vice Commander and Chief of Staff of the Border Guard High Command, the force has given guidelines on avoiding the storm to 49,585 fishing vessels with 233,327 crew members, including 1,255 vessels now at sea with 12,767 fishermen onboard.

Thirty border guard bases have been moved to safer locations, he said, while 1,876 others have prepared plans to minimise losses.

At the meeting, the national committee reported that, as of 6 am on November 2, Molave, the ninth storm to appear in the East Sea this year, had killed 33 people and left 49 others missing, while flooding 15,848 houses./.