Attending the conference at the Central bridge point were also members of the Steering Committee, the National Committee; leaders of the Standing Office of the Steering Committee, the Office of the National Committee; representatives of international organizations, disaster mitigation partners... Representative of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment , Deputy Minister Le Cong Thanh attended the Conference.
Speaking at the conference, Deputy Prime Minister Tran Luu Quang emphasized that in 2023 and the first months of 2024, Vietnam had to face many types of natural disasters due to the impact of the El Nino phenomenon. In particular, ministries, branches and localities have closely monitored the situation, proactively directed and responded, and compared to many years, the response has been more effective on a national scale. A very encouraging thing is that the quality of hydrometeorological forecasts has improved.
Nearly 2,000 natural disasters a year
Looking back at the work of natural disaster prevention, control and search and rescue in 2023 and the first months of 2024, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Le Minh Hoan - Deputy Head of the Standing Committee of the National Steering Committee for Natural Disaster Prevention and Control said: Natural disasters in 2023 occurred extremely in all regions with 1,964 natural disasters (21/22 types), especially heavy rain causing landslides, flash floods, floods, and widespread inundation.
This is an unusual year with much fewer storms and tropical depressions than the average of many years and no storms making landfall. However, there is still a great deal of damage to people, property, infrastructure, affecting people's lives and production. Many accidents at sea, construction collapses, chemical, toxic, radioactive incidents, oil spills, fires, and explosions occurred more frequently and with more severity than last year.
In total, in 2023, there were 5,331 incidents and natural disasters nationwide, killing and leaving 1,129 people missing. Economic losses due to natural disasters are estimated at over VND 9,324 billion.
From the beginning of 2024 until now, a number of serious natural disasters have occurred across the country such as severe cold in the Northern and North Central regions; drought, saltwater intrusion, landslides, land subsidence and flooding due to high tides occurring in the Mekong Delta (most serious in the Ca Mau region); drought in the Central Highlands; heavy rain, thunderstorms, lightning, hail in the Northern, North Central, Central Highlands and Southern regions (hail and thunderstorms continuously occurred in 19 Northern and North Central provinces); heat waves exceeding history at 110/186 monitoring stations nationwide; earthquakes in the provinces and cities of Hoa Binh, Lai Chau, Tuyen Quang, Hanoi, Kon Tum; strong winds, big waves at sea... Natural disasters have killed and left 14 people missing; material damage is estimated at over 399 billion VND.
To enhance the effectiveness of PCTT&TKCN work, in recent times, the Steering Committee, the National Committee, and the PCTT&TKCN Command Committees of localities have organized to consolidate, assign tasks, review, and adjust the operating regulations of the Steering Committee, the National Committee, and the Command Committees at all levels. In addition, the system of legal documents continues to be completed, with the highlight being that the National Assembly has passed the Civil Defense Law No. 18/2023/QH15. The draft Decree of the Government detailing a number of articles of the Civil Defense Law is being completed and the Law on State of Emergency is in the process of preparing a proposal for construction.
The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has also drafted a Decree to replace Decree No. 02/2017/ND-CP on mechanisms and policies to support agricultural production to restore production in areas damaged by natural disasters and epidemics, and is expected to submit it to the Government for promulgation in 2024; has submitted a Decree amending Decree 78/2021/ND-CP on the establishment and management of the Natural Disaster Prevention and Control Fund.
Prepared to respond before, during and after natural disasters
Speaking at the Conference, Minister Le Minh Hoan affirmed that over the past year, prevention work has been deployed synchronously in both depth and breadth. At the central level, a national online conference on disaster prevention and control and search and rescue work in 2023 was held, a conference to enhance capacity for the Standing Office of the Provincial/City Steering Committee for Disaster Prevention and Control and Search and Rescue; and the completion and implementation of Planning, Strategies, Plans, and Projects related to disaster prevention and control and search and rescue work until 2030 and beyond.
Hydrometeorological forecasts and warnings of dangerous weather phenomena have been provided in a timely manner to serve the direction, prevention, mitigation of natural disaster risks and proactively plan production and business. Localities have organized the installation of additional automatic rain gauge stations to serve the forecasting and warning of natural disasters (the total number of specialized stations by March 2024 is 2,552 stations).
In 2023, the National Steering Committee for Natural Disaster Prevention and Control organized the National Week on Natural Disaster Prevention and Control with the theme "From response to early action" in Quang Nam province and guided ministries, branches and localities in implementing it; at the same time, approved the content of the White Book on Natural Disaster Prevention and Control in Vietnam and widely published it on the Steering Committee's website. The Vietnam Natural Disaster Monitoring System (VNDMS) has also been effective in advising, directing and operating in natural disaster situations.
Information and communication work has been strengthened with the active participation of press agencies, especially the Disaster Prevention and Control Reporters Club, which regularly provides information related to natural disaster situations through various forms: printed newspapers, electronic newspapers, radio, television, multimedia publications, social networks, etc. Many conferences, training courses, and seminars on improving community capacity in disaster prevention and control are also regularly organized.
In addition, ministries, branches and localities have organized hundreds of training courses on rescue and relief operations; drills have taken place on many scales from international to ward and commune levels with full participation of forces, to enhance the ability to respond to natural disasters, incidents and search and rescue.
Regarding disaster response, incidents and search and rescue, in 2023 alone, ministries, branches and localities effectively handled 4,336 cases, rescuing 3,968 people and 207 vehicles; guiding and supporting the evacuation of nearly 963 thousand people from dangerous places to safe places...
In 2023, the Prime Minister supported 8,500 billion VND from the 2023 central budget reserve for 43 provinces and cities to prevent, combat and overcome the consequences of natural disasters and landslides; the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development provided seeds and disinfectants to help stabilize production in a timely manner after natural disasters. Immediately after the disaster occurred, leaders of the State, Government, Steering Committee and local leaders at all levels directly went to the scene to encourage and visit the affected people, directly inspected the work of overcoming the consequences, and at the same time, soon stabilized people's lives.
In 2023, as the Chair of the ASEAN Committee on Disaster Management (ACDM), Vietnam organized the AMMDM Conference and related events. Vietnam also continued to promote cooperation in international and regional forums in the field of incident response and search and rescue. In particular, by sending forces to participate in humanitarian assistance and relief for the earthquake disaster in Turkey in February 2023, the Turkish President came to thank and the Turkish people as well as the international community recognized and highly appreciated Vietnam.
Focus on overcoming shortcomings and limitations
At the conference, representatives of the Steering Committees for Disaster Prevention and Control of ministries, branches and localities gave speeches and discussions to comprehensively evaluate the disaster prevention and control work in 2023 and the first months of 2024, including the results achieved, shortcomings, limitations, and lessons learned from the practical direction and management work in the recent past. In addition, the conference assessed the natural disaster situation in 2024, proposed a number of key tasks and solutions to contribute to improving the quality of disaster prevention and control work in the year.
Acknowledging the results achieved, Deputy Prime Minister Tran Luu Quang also pointed out a number of issues that have existed in the past. Accordingly, the awareness of the people and some officials is still inadequate; the work of inspecting and urging the response to the rainy and stormy season has not been done well in all places. Forecasting and early warning work still has issues that need to be improved. Some current legal regulations are not clear or are too old, no longer suitable for practice. On the other hand, on a national scale, the ability of infrastructure to withstand natural disasters is still limited.
To proactively respond and minimize damage caused by natural disasters in 2024, Deputy Prime Minister Tran Luu Quang requested ministries, branches, and local People's Committees to continue reviewing and perfecting the Command Committees for Natural Disaster Prevention, Control, and Civil Defense at all levels in accordance with the Law on Civil Defense, which will take effect from July 1, 2024. The armed forces are put at the forefront to prove that they are the fastest, strongest, and most timely force to respond to natural disasters and adverse situations.
The work of perfecting legal documents on natural disaster prevention and control needs to continue, creating a legal corridor for implementing activities in practice. "Some policy mechanisms need to be newly built, not just revised," the Deputy Prime Minister emphasized.
Communication and information work needs to continue to be strengthened to raise awareness among ministries and the community, focusing on new forms of information via text messages and social networks. In addition, inspection and supervision work should be strengthened before the flood season. The Deputy Prime Minister requested localities to carefully review disaster prevention scenarios to have the most appropriate response plan to meet reality.
Along with improving the quality of forecasting work to ensure it is as timely and accurate as possible, the Deputy Prime Minister also suggested that localities and ministries need to further improve their management capacity. When a natural disaster occurs, the local leader is the one who directly commands on the spot, so he can make the wisest and most reasonable decisions at that time based on the general principles set forth by the organization - the Deputy Prime Minister emphasized.
Mobilizing investment resources for natural disaster prevention and mitigation also needs to be strengthened in the coming time. The Deputy Prime Minister expressed that Vietnam also hopes that international organizations will continue to accompany in sharing information, training officials, disseminating experiences in responding to and overcoming incidents and natural disasters; at the same time, consider funding for forecasting work to proactively respond and reduce damage.
Source: https://baotainguyenmoitruong.vn/chu-dong-ung-pho-giup-nang-cao-hieu-qua-phong-chong-thien-tai-374010.html
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