Gov’t approves national disaster prevention and control plan for 2026–2030 period

The plan aims to strengthen capacity for disaster prevention, response and recovery; adapt to climate change; minimize disaster-related losses and damage; create favorable conditions for sustainable socio-economic development; and contribute to maintaining national security and defense.

Under the plan, the legal framework, mechanisms and policies on disaster prevention and control will be improved.

It targets to strengthen information and communications activities, disseminate relevant laws and raise public awareness of natural disasters, ensuring that all of local authorities at all levels, agencies, organizations and households will receive adequate information and acquire knowledge and skills in disaster preparedness and prevention.

The automation rate at meteorological stations, water-level monitoring stations, rainfall measurement stations and upper-air wind observation stations is expected to reach over 95 percent while the automation rate at flow measurement stations will reach over 40 percent by the end of this decade.

The plan aims to review, update and identify all of areas at high risk of flash floods and landslides on warning maps; install monitoring and surveillance systems at all of key and vulnerable disaster-prone areas; and equip all of fishing vessels operating in offshore and nearshore fishing grounds with monitoring systems to ensure communications connectivity.

Disaster prevention and control infrastructure will be upgraded through enhanced investment in multi-purpose projects and infrastructure serving multiple regions and sectors. Priority will be given to dike systems, reservoirs and dams, storm shelters and mooring facilities for vessels, and infrastructure for preventing and controlling riverbank and coastal erosion, flooding, drought and saltwater intrusion.

Viet Nam is one of the most disaster-prone countries in the world. The Southeast Asian nation suffers from many different types of natural hazards, including typhoons, tropical storms, floods, drought, salt water intrusion, landslides, and forest fires. More than 70 percent of Viet Nam's population is at risk from natural hazards, particularly the rural and urban poor.

According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment, throughout 2025, Viet Nam experienced a series of consecutive and increasingly severe natural disasters, marked by many abnormal factors and far exceeding historical thresholds previously recorded. In the East Sea, 15 storms and 6 tropical depressions were recorded, surpassing the record set in 2017.

From January 1 to December 24, 2025, disasters had left 468 people dead or missing and 741 others injured; more than 4,100 houses were completely destroyed or swept away, while nearly 349,000 others were damaged or had their roofs torn off. Total economic damage was estimated to exceed VND 98.677 billion (US$3.86 billion), posing enormous challenges for post-disaster recovery and reconstruction efforts./.