On December 26, the People's Committee of Binh Dinh province announced that the provincial Chairman Pham Anh Tuan had approved the purchase of specialized satellite phones to serve the work of preventing and responding to natural disasters in the province.
Mr. Pham Anh Tuan assigned the Department of Information and Communications to preside over and coordinate with relevant agencies to organize the procurement, ensure quality and fully meet technical requirements. This is to serve the effective direction and management in the context of natural disasters.
Binh Dinh province will purchase 20 devices with a total cost of no more than 880 million VND, using the province's Disaster Prevention and Control Fund.
The equipment will be distributed as follows: 4 machines at the Provincial People's Committee; 2 machines at the Provincial Party Standing Committee; 1 machine at the Provincial Police; 1 machine at the Provincial Military Command; 1 machine at the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development and 11 district-level localities (1 machine for each locality).
According to statistics, Binh Dinh has more than 400,000 households with more than 1.47 million people updated on the province's disaster management software. Of these, 281,465 people are in vulnerable groups that need special attention when natural disasters occur.
The province has 159 communes, wards and towns affected by storms; 25 coastal communes and wards affected by rising sea levels; 119 communes and wards affected by floods. In particular, there are 15 areas at high risk of landslides, concentrated in Hoai An, An Lao, Vinh Thanh, Phu Cat districts and Quy Nhon city.
Speaking with Lao Dong, Mr. Ho Dac Chuong - Deputy Director of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Binh Dinh province said that recently, storm No. 3 - Yagi has interrupted and paralyzed transmission lines, hindering the province's direction of disaster prevention and control to localities.
According to Mr. Chuong, the investment in satellite phones comes from the actual needs in the province's disaster prevention and control work.
"In case the broadcasting stations or offshore fiber optic cables are damaged by storms, satellite phones are a safe and effective method of communication, regardless of severe weather conditions," said Mr. Chuong.
Mr. Chuong also said that in the past, the province had to rent satellite phones from telecommunications corporations for communication and command in emergency situations. However, this rental had certain limitations in terms of quantity and response capacity, especially in emergency situations.
Therefore, purchasing a satellite phone is necessary and completely in accordance with the provisions of the Law on Natural Disaster Prevention.
