During the first half of this year (H1), natural disasters in Vietnam’s northern region claimed lives of 19 people, injured 79 locals, and caused VND610 billion ($26.29 million) loss, said Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Nguyen Xuan Cuong. Mr. Cuong gave the information at a meeting on natural disaster prevention and control for the 2020-2025 period in northern Lao Cai province on July 13. Form year to date, the region has been hit by two flash floods, 12 earthquakes, and 92 thunderstorms and hailstorms, and heavy rain, Mr. Cuong said, stressing increasingly complicated developments of natural disasters. Minister Cuong said regional authorities need to devise scenarios to proactively prevent and respond to disasters besides re-distributing residential areas, citing relative frequency of landslides and floods in recent years. Mr. Mai Van Khiem, director of the National Center for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting (NCHMF), predicted that lashing rain and storms would increase during late months, while this year may record on-record low temperature, and extreme winter weather in the northern mountainous areas. (Thanh Nien, kttvqg, Nhan Dan)
