On January 20, the Conference summed up the steering and operations in 2021 and the implementation of essential tasks in 2022 of the National Steering Committee for Natural Disaster Prevention and Control and the National Committee to Respond to Incidents and Natural Disasters and find Search and rescue took place under the chairmanship of Deputy Prime Minister Le Van Thanh, Head of the Steering Committee.

Lowest damage in 20 years

According to Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Nguyen Hoang Hiep, Deputy Head of the National Steering Committee for Natural Disaster Prevention and Control, in 2021, natural disasters in the world and the region will continue to develop abnormally, fiercely, causing severe damage to human, economic and social life. Natural disasters in 2021 alone have killed more than 16,000 people and generated more than US$ 105 billion in damage worldwide.

"In the country, there have been a total of 4,061 natural disasters, accidents and incidents (excluding road and railway traffic accidents), of which there have been 841 cases with 18/22 types of natural disasters." Deputy Minister Nguyen Hoang Hiep said.

Especially, superstorm No. 9 (Rai) operated in the East Sea and six consecutive heavy spots of rain from mid-September to early December 2021 in the central region with a total prevalence of 2,000-3,500 mm, causing flooding near historical levels on rivers in Binh Dinh and Phu Yen, flooding on a large scale, landslides in many places.

In 2021, natural disasters made 108 people dead or missing, 95 people injured, and economic losses of over VND 5,200 billion.

Deputy Minister Nguyen Hoang Hiep said that natural disasters are becoming more and more extreme, unusual and irregular, powerful storms, heavy rains, floods, floods, flash floods, and landslides on a large scale. Incidents are increasingly diverse in type and severity, with the risk of causing damage and affecting economic and social activities.

Saltwater intrusion in the Mekong Delta has been higher than average for many years but not as severe as in the 2019-2020 dry season. In February-March 2022, the weather was wet; the phenomenon of light rain, drizzle, and fog increased compared to this period every year in the Northern region.

Regarding the task orientation in 2022, Deputy Minister Le Cong Thanh said that the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment would accelerate the implementation of the Program to update disaster risk zoning create disaster warning maps, especially are natural disasters related to storms, storm surges, flash floods, landslides, droughts, and saltwater intrusion.

Director-General of the General Department of Natural Disaster Prevention and Control (Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development) Tran Quang Hoai, Deputy Head of the Steering Committee, said that data on prevention and control of natural disasters, floods and storms requires timely, quick and accurate information, updated soon, so if science and technology are not applied, the requirements will not be met.

Regarding the above issue, Minister Le Minh Hoan said that the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development would work with the Ministry of Information and Communications to enhance digital transformation in disaster prevention.

"If we have a system that integrates disaster red spots for many consecutive years, we will discover the areas most at risk of natural disasters, from there, we can focus on directing those natural disaster areas that often occur to have structural and non-structural solutions for those regions," said Minister Le Minh Hoan.

Do not be subjective, do not be passive

Deputy Prime Minister Le Van Thanh stated that 2021 is the year of implementing many works, the first year of the term, the first year of implementing the Resolution of the 13th Party Congress.

"The year 2021 is when the whole political system, from the central to local levels, put a lot of effort into disease prevention and production maintenance and restoration. The work of responding to incidents and natural disasters, too, must combine to ensure disease safety and prevent natural disasters, "said the Deputy Prime Minister.

According to him, forecasting and warning of natural disasters have made a lot of progress, and forecast quality is getting better and better. Many storms now forecast agencies can warn five days (previously only three days) as soon as the storm is still in the east of the Philippines and continuously updated for more accurate information.

However, the Deputy Prime Minister noted two issues: regulations, regulations, and the management of the reservoir. "If the regulations and regulations are not good, the orders are wrong, the management is wrong." Therefore, it is necessary to review the system of regulations and regulations. Thinking that the discharge of floods at the wrong time will affect people, the Deputy Prime Minister emphasized, "It is necessary to pay close attention and review the process, ensuring that the flood discharge does not cause damage to the lives of people."

In addition, with the forecast that the weather situation will become complicated, the Deputy Prime Minister requested, "absolutely not be subjective, it is necessary to focus on disaster prevention and synchronously deploy solutions for disaster prevention and control in 2022, strive to minimize damage caused by natural disasters to the lowest level".

The Deputy Prime Minister asked the question, "If we can forecast, release water a few days before, then after that storm or rain, the amount of water in the lake will still reach the design level, not affecting hydropower production and does not affect to the downstream area."

Accordingly, ministries, branches, and localities need to strengthen natural disaster prevention and control material foundations. "We need to conduct pre-inspection at key points on lakes, dams, and dykes earlier for early reinforcement."

Deputy Prime Minister Le Van Thanh also requested ministries, branches, and localities, especially the standing agency in charge of disaster prevention and search and rescue, to step up communication, raise public awareness, and provide technical guidance on how to respond to disasters. ability to respond to natural disasters and incidents for the people. "It must be determined that propaganda is an important activity in disaster response and search and rescue."

Translated by: Ha Phuc