Estimated damage caused by storm No. 3 is about 40 trillion VND; GDP growth for the whole year may decrease by 0.15%.

The growth rate of the whole country and many localities in the last 6 months of the year is forecast to slow down. The country's GDP growth in the third quarter may decrease by 0.35%; in the fourth quarter, it may decrease by 0.22% compared to the scenario without storm No. 3. The estimated GDP growth for the whole year may decrease by 0.15% (compared to the scenario where the estimated growth could reach 6.8-7%), according to the report of the Ministry of Planning and Investment on the damage caused by storm No. 3.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh chairs the conference - Photo: VGP/Nhat Bac

Efforts to quickly overcome the consequences and restore production and business activities

On the morning of September 15, implementing the direction of the Politburo, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh chaired a Government Standing Committee Conference with localities affected by storm No. 3 on solutions to overcome the consequences, support people and businesses to stabilize their lives, restore production and business activities, and promote growth.

At the conference, presenting a report on the damage caused by storm No. 3 and solutions to overcome the consequences of storms and rains, supporting the recovery of production and business, Minister of Planning and Investment Nguyen Chi Dung said that storm No. 3 is the strongest storm in the East Sea in the past 30 years. Storm No. 3 and its circulation have a very large area of ​​influence, spanning 26 provinces and cities in the entire North and Thanh Hoa (accounting for over 41% of GDP and 40% of the country's population), combined with the flood discharge in the upstream of some large rivers, causing prolonged heavy rains, flooding, flash floods, landslides, etc. occurring seriously in many areas.

The storm caused widespread power outages, water outages, and communication outages at the same time, making information, communication, search, rescue, and relief work even more difficult, burdensome, and challenging. Up to now, some localities are still flooded, or at high risk, which could cause even more severe damage.

Strong impact on GDP growth in Q3 and Q4

Regarding the specific impact estimates of storm No. 3 on socio-economic development, the report of the Ministry of Planning and Investment shows:

(1) To date, 353 people have died or gone missing, about 1,900 people have been injured and have had severe psychological trauma for many people in the disaster area, especially children, the elderly, and vulnerable groups.

Delegates observed a minute of silence to commemorate the victims of storms and floods - Photo: VGP/Nhat Bac

(2) Causing great damage to people's and state's property in localities affected by storms and floods. Preliminary, incomplete estimates show that property damage caused by storm No. 3 is about 40 trillion VND.

Of these, about 257,000 houses, 1,300 schools and many infrastructure works collapsed and were damaged; 305 dike incidents, mainly large dikes of level III or higher; over 262,000 hectares of rice, crops and fruit trees were flooded, damaged and collapsed; 2,250 aquaculture cages were damaged and swept away; nearly 2.3 million livestock and poultry died and nearly 310,000 urban trees were broken.

(3) The growth rate of the whole country and many localities in the last 6 months of the year is forecast to slow down. The GDP growth of the whole country in the third quarter may decrease by 0.35%; in the fourth quarter, it may decrease by 0.22% compared to the scenario without storm No. 3. The estimated GDP for the whole year may decrease by 0.15% compared to the scenario where the estimated growth could reach 6.8-7%. Of which, the agriculture, forestry and fishery sector decreased by 0.33%; industry and construction decreased by 0.05% and services decreased by 0.22%.

The GRDP growth rate in 2024 of many localities such as Hai Phong, Quang Ninh, Thai Nguyen, Lao Cai... may decrease by more than 0.5%. Many roads were flooded and damaged, causing traffic activities (especially roads and railways) to be partially suspended.

Farms, households growing rice, crops, livestock, and aquaculture in most areas affected by storm No. 3, including coastal areas, urban areas, urban borders, rural areas, and mountainous areas, are the most severely damaged, requiring a lot of resources and time to restock, re-crop, and reproduce. Especially when the North is in the season of planting the crop, not yet entering the harvest season.

Many tourist and accommodation facilities are damaged and must be closed for repairs. Therefore, the North will miss the international tourist season (from September 2024 to April 2025) and may not be able to attract domestic visitors, especially key tourist destinations such as Hanoi, Hai Phong, Quang Ninh, Lao Cai, Ha Giang, etc.

Industrial and construction enterprises were also affected by the storm, especially the indirect impact of power outages, communications, labor and workers' families being affected. To limit damage to enterprises and overcome the damage, localities have made efforts to ensure adequate supply of electricity, water, and telecommunications connections so that enterprises can resume production as soon as the weather is more favorable.

(4) Social issues, especially health care, education, environment, rural clean water, urban clean water, employment, people's lives... need special attention, resource priority and quick implementation after storms and floods, to prevent disease outbreaks and avoid causing a resonant impact on people's lives.

(5) The infrastructure system of localities was severely damaged by the storm in many places. Many essential infrastructure works, civil works such as roads, bridges, culverts, electricity, water supply, drainage, telecommunications, information, schools, etc. were damaged and need to be repaired soon.

Irrigation infrastructure works, dykes, dams of hydroelectric plants, etc. were damaged, posing potential risks and dangers as the storm and flood situation in the coming time is forecast to be very complicated.

(6) There is a lot of bad and inaccurate information, causing panic and fear among the people, affecting the work of preventing and fighting storms and floods and overcoming damage after storms. The security, order and social safety situation has some complicated factors, especially online fraud.

Minister Nguyen Chi Dung presented a report on the damage caused by storm No. 3; solutions to overcome the consequences of storms and rains, and support the recovery of production and business.

Main task groups and solutions

The damage caused by storm No. 3 has both subjective and objective causes. In particular, the main reason is that super storm No. 3 has strong intensity, large scope, complex nature, unprecedented; the situation of prolonged heavy rain, flood discharge in the upper reaches of some large rivers. The subjective reason is that a part of the people and businesses in some places are still subjective, negligent, not strictly and fully complying with the direction, guidance, and warnings of the authorities; the skills to respond to natural disasters, storms and floods are still limited; some local authorities still lack equipment, slow implementation, confusion, not meeting the requirements to respond in emergency situations; information coordination at some times is interrupted...

However, thanks to the close, timely and drastic leadership of the Politburo and the Secretariat; the participation of the entire political system; the drastic, proactive direction and management, timely and effective response, early, from afar, directly on the scene of the Government, ministries, branches and localities; the support and companionship of the people and the business community... we have minimized the extent of damage and potential risks and promptly overcome the consequences of storm No. 3.

In order to promptly support people and businesses to restore production and business, the Ministry of Planning and Investment proposes to focus on implementing 5 main groups of tasks and solutions as follows: (1) Protecting people's lives, safety and health; (2) Supporting the restoration of social activities to stabilize people's lives, especially in areas most severely affected by storms, floods, landslides; (3) Supporting production establishments, business households, cooperatives, and enterprises to quickly restore production, supply, and labor chains, restore and develop production and business; (4) Preparing to respond to natural disasters, storms, floods, landslides, etc. in the coming time; (5) Having mechanisms, policies, and solutions to reduce and simplify administrative procedures to implement support policies.

According to the State Bank's report, in 20/26 provinces and cities, the estimated affected outstanding debt is about 80 trillion VND (accounting for about 5% of outstanding debt in the area). Of which, in Quang Ninh and Hai Phong alone, about 11.7 thousand customers are affected with outstanding debt of about 23.1 trillion VND.

Source: https://thoibaonganhang.vn/uoc-tinh-thiet-hai-do-bao-so-3-giay-ra-khoang-40-nghin-ty-dong-tang-truong-gdp-ca-nam-co-the-giam-015-155561.html