Vice Chairman of Thanh Hoa Province Mai Xuan Liem has just signed a decision to reclaim and hand over assets of satellite mobile phone equipment to serve the direction and operation of natural disaster prevention, control and search and rescue in the province.
63 satellite phones were recalled from the Standing Committee of the Provincial People's Committee, deputy directors of departments, branches, chairmen and secretaries of communes and wards. Each machine is worth VND 29,910,188.
The satellite phones after being recovered will be handed over to mountainous and border communes, in order to enhance communication capacity when there are flash floods and landslides.
Cadres in cities, urban areas, and the center do not need to use satellite phones, so keeping each person in their own phone is a waste.
Meanwhile, in remote mountainous areas, officials are in great need of satellite phones, because they are a tool for communication, especially when natural disasters occur.
Readers have followed a clip recording the actual trip to direct flood prevention after storm No. 5 on August 30 in Yen Nhan commune by Vice Chairman Mai Xuan Liem.
Commune officials said that when storms and floods are cut off, reporting the situation is very difficult. During the recent storm No. 5, commune officials had to walk more than 10km of forest road to have a phone signal to call the province for an urgent report. "Finding waves" in storms and floods is very dangerous.
Mr. Mai Xuan Liem immediately called Mr. Tran Duy Binh - Director of the Department of Science and Technology: "I want to bring those machines (satellite phones) up to the commune, and bring them up immediately. Even my machine was given to the commune. He reviewed everything, assigned to any district that was not necessary to collect and submit to the commune leaders during floods. When there was an unfortunate power outage and we could no longer contact them, the machine was still used to report the situation to the province".
Up to today, Mr. Mai Xuan Liem's instructions are no longer "word of mouth", but are issued in official documents and implemented immediately.
Commune officials in mountainous areas are very happy to be supported with this tool.
With satellite phones, commune officials can contact provincial leaders, report the situation, receive instructions to deploy natural disaster prevention work, promptly respond to dangerous situations such as landslides, flash floods, etc.
Sometimes, a timely phone call can save the property and especially the lives of many people.
The recall and handover of 63 satellite phones in Thanh Hoa shows the need to use public assets effectively, not waste.
At the same time, it is also a manifestation of the spirit of "for the people". Because the people are not just loudly advertising, but through specific actions.
