Prime Minister requests proactive prevention and control of prolonged cold spells

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh has just sent an official dispatch to the Chairmen of the People's Committees of provinces and cities and central ministries and branches on proactively preventing and combating prolonged cold weather.

The telegram stated: In recent days, due to the influence of strong cold air, the Northern and North Central regions have experienced severe cold, frost in the highlands, affecting people's health, livestock and agricultural production. According to the forecast of the National Center for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting, severe cold may continue in the coming days; the temperature continues to drop along with drizzle, high humidity and scarce food sources will greatly affect people's lives, the resistance and growth of crops and livestock.

To proactively respond to severe cold, protect people's health, minimize damage to agricultural production, protect people's health and livelihoods, ensure essential food sources to serve market demand at the end of the year and during Tet, the Prime Minister requests the Chairmen of the People's Committees of provinces and centrally run cities, especially the mountainous and midland provinces of the North and North Central regions, the National Steering Committee for Natural Disaster Prevention and Control, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Education and Training and relevant ministries and branches to closely monitor weather developments, proactively direct and deploy measures to respond to severe cold, focusing on the following specific tasks:

1. Chairman of People's Committee of provinces and centrally-run cities:

a) Proactively propagate and guide people to implement measures to prevent cold, ensure health and safety for people (do not use coal stoves to heat in closed rooms to avoid unfortunate incidents, causing human damage); prevent fires and explosions when heating; pay special attention to preventing cold and other extreme weather events for the elderly, children and the disadvantaged... Based on the specific weather situation in the locality, proactively let students take time off from school according to regulations of the Ministry of Education and Training.

b) Focus on directing and synchronously implementing measures to prevent and combat hunger, cold, and epidemics for crops, livestock, and aquatic products to minimize damage to agricultural production. Absolutely do not be subjective or negligent; promptly organize working groups to the grassroots, especially in highland communes, to directly propagate, guide, inspect, and urge the work of preventing and combating cold for people, crops, and livestock; propagate, mobilize, and disseminate to the people safe and effective methods and skills to prevent and combat cold, especially for the elderly, people with underlying diseases, children, etc.

Households that graze cattle in the forest must move their livestock to pens or sheltered places with adequate conditions to ensure that the cattle do not get cold; do not graze or let buffaloes and cows work when there is severe cold; apply a late-grazing and early-returning regime. At the same time, encourage people to proactively store and preserve roughage and concentrated feed for livestock, ensuring enough feed for livestock during the winter-spring crop.

c) Proactively arrange local budgets, natural disaster prevention and control funds and local resources to promptly serve the work of preventing and fighting hunger, cold, and epidemics for livestock, aquatic products and crops; promptly support materials and funds for poor households, ethnic minority households, and policy families to reinforce and cover barns, seedling ponds, seedling gardens, especially spring seedlings, and purchase concentrated feed for grazing livestock, fertilizers, and biological products to increase cold resistance for crops.

d) Be responsible to the Prime Minister if there is a loss of human life and a large number of crops and livestock die due to subjectivity, negligence, and failure to fully and promptly implement measures to prevent and combat hunger, cold (especially severe cold), and epidemics for people, crops, and livestock in the area.

2. The Ministry of Education and Training has guidelines for educational and training institutions on students' absence from school when there is severe cold, severe cold, and other unusual developments due to cold...

3. The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development focuses on directing and closely monitoring weather developments, guiding localities to implement cold and disease prevention for livestock, poultry, aquatic products and crops; developing and guiding the Winter-Spring crop production plan, and crop structure suitable to weather conditions.

4. The Ministry of Health shall coordinate with the media to disseminate knowledge, guide and advise people to take effective measures to prevent and combat the cold, ensure health safety, avoid the risk of gas poisoning when burning coal and firewood for heating in closed rooms; direct the grassroots medical force to ensure the necessary amount of medicine, and organize medical examination and treatment for people.

5. The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment directs close monitoring, forecasting, warning, and providing timely information on weather conditions, severe cold, and frost so that competent authorities and media agencies can convey to the people and proactively deploy effective response measures to severe cold, frost, and frost.

6. The Ministry of Information and Communications and media and press agencies at the central and local levels need to spend reasonable time and time, and take measures to propagate and disseminate on mass media methods and skills to prevent and combat cold for people, livestock, poultry, pets, agricultural production, etc.

7. The National Steering Committee for Natural Disaster Prevention and Control shall closely monitor the developments of severe cold, proactively direct, inspect and urge localities to promptly deploy prevention, control and overcoming of consequences; report and propose to the Prime Minister to direct the handling of issues beyond its authority.

8. Assign Deputy Prime Minister Tran Luu Quang to directly direct and monitor; the Government Office monitors, urges, and reports to the Deputy Prime Minister and the Prime Minister according to assigned functions and tasks.

Source