The rainy season has begun in most areas across the country. In May this year, many places recorded rainfall exceeding historical values. Mr. Hoang Van Dai - Deputy Director of the National Center for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting - has made recommendations to the people to minimize damage caused by natural disasters.
Sir, about to reach the peak of flood season, which areas and groups are most vulnerable to natural disasters?
- The midlands and mountainous areas of Vietnam are places with very complex terrain, with hundreds, thousands of small rivers and streams, hills, mountain passes and very steep mountain slopes. These are areas that are very difficult for travel and have a high risk of natural disasters such as flash floods and landslides.
This is also a place where ethnic minorities live, life is still difficult, infrastructure is not yet developed. Therefore, when natural disasters occur, access and rescue also face many obstacles.
In addition, this area also has information gaps. Access to warning and disaster forecasts is more difficult. This makes people in the midlands and mountainous areas more vulnerable to natural disasters, especially flash floods and landslides.
People in the midlands and mountainous areas are facing the risk of flash floods, landslides during the rainy season. How has the Hydrometeorological Department coordinated with all levels and sectors to warn the people about these types of natural disasters, sir?
- flash floods are very dangerous types of natural disasters and often occur in a short period of time.
In recent times, we have focused on increasing the density of stations and monitoring systems. In addition to the network invested by the National Hydrometeorological and Hydrological Administration, we also integrate the maximum data from other specialized monitoring systems.
This integration helps us get information about rain areas covering the whole country. Currently, we are exploiting nearly 4,000 automatic rain monitoring stations - an extremely valuable source of data.
Forecasting work is currently being carried out simultaneously at the national and local levels, helping to convey warning information to people more effectively.
In particular, for the midland and mountainous areas of Vietnam, from 2023 to now, we have also deployed a warning information system according to the time of flash floods and landslides.
This is a very important information system and is updated every hour, covering all provinces in the midland and mountainous region of Vietnam.
With this system, we are giving detailed warnings to the commune level. People and local authorities can refer to this system.
In the near future, what recommendations do you have for people in responding to natural disasters?
- People need to remember three important things. First, remember official information channels on natural disaster forecasting and warnings such as websites and Zalo of authorities.
Second, it is necessary to clearly understand which shelters are safer in your living area to move when necessary.
Third, natural disasters during the flood season often come unexpectedly in a short time, so it is necessary to prepare necessary items such as flashlights, food, drinking water, and medicine.
In addition, it is necessary to implement "three stands ready" to be ready to evacuate when requested by the authorities; ready to support each other, especially households living near each other; ready to strictly comply with the orders and instructions of local natural disaster prevention forces.
These are things that people need to pay attention to proactively prevent and minimize risks in the upcoming storm season.
Sincerely thank you!
