Natural disasters in Vietnam are increasingly extreme
In recent years, Vietnam has continuously suffered many extreme forms of natural disasters such as heavy rain, strong storms and widespread flooding. Many floods are considered "historic floods" when the water level on rivers exceeds record levels, causing serious flooding and leaving great damage to people, property and infrastructure.
In particular, 2025 is highlighted by severe and widespread flooding, with water levels exceeding many historical milestones in both the North and Central regions.
According to hydrometeorological experts, the continuous appearance of extreme natural disasters in recent times is clear evidence of the increasingly strong impact of climate change on Vietnam.
Mr. Hoang Duc Cuong, Deputy Director of the Department of Meteorology and Hydrology (Ministry of Agriculture and Environment), said - scientific studies have shown a link between climate change and the increasing extremity of natural disasters, especially storms.
According to Mr. Cuong, climate change directly affects the frequency and intensity of strong storms. As sea temperatures increase, the amount of moisture in the atmosphere also increases, creating favorable conditions for storms to form and develop with greater intensity.
Not only stronger, storms in recent years have also tended to develop abnormally and are more difficult to predict than before. Many storms appear with irregular paths, forming outside the traditional storm season or even increasing in intensity right before making landfall instead of weakening as usual.
The above signs clearly show scientific and practical evidence that the increase in abnormality, frequency and intensity of storms is related to the impact of climate change," Mr. Hoang Duc Cuong said.
Many areas face serious risks of damage due to climate change
Sharing the same view, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Pham Thi Thanh Nga, Director of the Institute of Meteorology, Hydrology, Environment and Marine Science (Ministry of Agriculture and Environment), said that - climate change has recorded many new records in terms of temperature and rainfall. Based on the most recent research and assessments of climate risks studied in 20 years, Vietnam is also in the top 20 countries most heavily affected by climate change and these are worrying issues in the way we must respond to climate change today.
According to Assoc. Prof. Dr. Pham Thi Thanh Nga, Vietnam has a complex terrain, located in a tropical monsoon region with the impact of many weather systems and long coastlines. Therefore, areas across the country face many types of natural disasters such as hot sun, heavy rain, drought... Some years recorded up to 21/22 types of natural disasters occurring.
“It can be seen that all areas are affected and the level of damage is very large. The Northern mountainous region, midland and Central region are heavily affected by landslides and flash floods - the cause of great loss of life.
Meanwhile, the coastal area faces the risk of experiencing many strong storms accompanied by heavy rain and sea level rise. In particular, the Mekong Delta is a very vulnerable area to climate change. With the scenario of sea level rise, the risk of flooding in this area is very real, accompanied by saltwater intrusion, greatly affecting socio-economics and people's lives," Ms. Nga said.
The continuous appearance of extreme natural disasters in recent times shows that climate change is increasingly deeply and clearly impacting Vietnam.
In the context that Vietnam is in the group of countries heavily affected by climate change, experts believe that proactive adaptation, improving forecasting capacity and strengthening disaster resilience are urgent requirements.
