Disaster relief budget reaches record high

The Deputy Minister released the figure at a conference on disaster prevention in Ha Noi on Friday.

Of the budget, VND 4 trillion will go to 13 Mekong Delta provinces to prevent coastal erosion.

In addition, provinces and cities mobilized over VND 3 trillion of local budget to prevent natural disasters.

Addressing the event, Deputy Prime Minister Tran Luu Quang, who is also head of the National Steering Committee for Natural Disasters Prevention and Control underscored the need to improve the overall quality of weather forecasts, enhance pre-storm inspections, and diversify all forms of communications and raise awareness at all levels.

Tran took the occasion to call upon international organizations to share information and experience, and to support human resource training in responding to and overcoming natural disasters, while considering additional funding for natural disaster prevention and control.

Meteorologists warned that El Nino is gradually weakening and is anticipated to change to La Nina in the last months of the year, which may possibly cause heavy rain in the central region, a scenario similar to the historic flooding that led to catastrophic consequences throughout central localities in 2020.

The transformation of the El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) phenomenon, that comprises the warming phase of El Nino and the cooling phase of La Nina, combined with climate change is fueling the extremes of weather and climate.

Between 11 and 13 tropical storms are due to form in the East Sea, with between five to seven of them expected to slam into the country’s mainland, mostly from September to November.

With El Nino likely to shift to the neutral state and La Nina to emerge in the second half of the year, the central region will probably have to brace itself for subsequent spells of heavy rain that may trigger severe flooding, flash floods, and landslides, analysed the senior meteorologist.

In 2020, the historic flooding wreaked great havoc to the central region, taking the lives of 138 people, leaving 16 others go missing, and injuring 398 people. In addition, more than 6,200 houses collapsed, and nearly 380,000 other houses were inundated with floodwater./.