Running a storm for lobsters
On November 5, along the coast of Hon Yen (O Loan commune, Dak Lak province, formerly Phu Yen province), dozens of people were busy pulling lobster cages ashore.
This is a large lobster breeding area in the South Central region with hundreds of cages for star lobster and green lobster.
Here, a storm run is really taking place. The lobster seeds and meat lobsters are picked up, put into buckets or foam boxes with oxygen, then loaded onto trucks to transport to windy areas such as Vung Ro Bay (Hoa Xuan Commune, Dak Lak Province) or Mon lagoon (Khanh Hoa Province) to continue raising to avoid the storm.
Mr. Dinh Van Duoc - the owner of a star lobster raft - said that he has about 10 cages, each cage worth hundreds of millions of VND.
"Billions of dong are underwater, subjectively they die immediately. Hearing the news of a strong storm means that we have to evacuate early, because in recent years, lobster farmers here have suffered a lot of damage, Mr. Duoc shared.
With her husband carrying a foam box containing green lobsters onto the truck, Ms. Nguyen Thi Hong Phan (32 years old) said that her family had to move all the shrimp before the export period to Vung Ro Bay to temporarily release.
"These shrimp are a big asset of the family, so everything has to be moved, I don't dare to leave it behind," she said.
Storing necessities, reinforcing ponds to avoid strong storms
In Khanh Hoa, people are also urgently preparing to respond.
After the heartbreaking lesson from Damrey in 2017 which killed 44 people, injured 229, ruined more than 2,000 homes and devastated 70,000 aquaculture cages, causing damage of more than VND 15,500 billion people are more vigilant than ever.
Ms. Tran Thi Tra (Nam Nha Trang ward) said that as soon as she heard the news that the storm could make landfall, she went to the electronics store to buy spare batteries, charging fans, flashlights and store more food.
"With the current erratic weather, we have to be proactive in all situations," she said.
In the Dam Mon and Tuan Le areas (Dai Lanh commune), many households raising white-leg shrimp have reinforced their farms, tied up ponds and lakes, and moved equipment and materials to higher ground.
Fishing boat owners also rushed to bring their boats to storm shelters, tied them up into clusters to avoid colliding when the wind was strong.
According to the forecast, storm Kalmaegi may strengthen to level 13 when it enters the East Sea, causing strong gusts of wind, high waves and widespread heavy rain in the Central region.
Local authorities in many provinces and cities have activated disaster prevention plans, requiring people to absolutely not be subjective or negligent.
