6 key tasks and solutions to overcome the consequences of storm No. 3, promote production and business recovery

Storm No. 3 caused serious and heavy damage to people, property, crops, livestock, and socio-economic infrastructure; greatly affecting people's material and spiritual lives, production and business activities, especially agricultural production, services, and tourism.

Preliminary statistics as of September 17 show that 329 people have died or gone missing, about 1,929 people have been injured; about 234,700 houses, 1,500 schools and many infrastructure works have collapsed or been damaged; 726 dike incidents; over 307,400 hectares of rice, crops and fruit trees have been flooded or damaged; 3,722 aquaculture cages have been damaged or swept away; nearly 3 million livestock and poultry have died and nearly 310,000 urban trees have been broken or felled...

The total property damage caused by storm No. 3 is preliminarily estimated at over VND50 trillion, and is forecast to reduce the GDP growth rate for the whole year by about 0.15% compared to the growth scenario of 6.8-7%. The economic growth rate of many localities such as Hai Phong, Quang Ninh, Thai Nguyen, Lao Cai... may decrease by over 0.5% compared to the forecast before storm No. 3.

Infrastructure systems, many essential works, and people's lives were damaged. Social issues, especially health care, education, environment, rural clean water, urban clean water, employment, people's lives, etc. need special attention, resource priority, and quick implementation after storms and floods to stabilize people's lives.

Since storm No. 3 formed and entered the East Sea, the Government and the Prime Minister have directed to closely monitor the situation, accurately forecast the intensity and path of the storm, warn of the risk of floods, landslides and deploy emergency response solutions before, during and after the storm and issued 10 telegrams, established a Forward Command Center in Hai Phong city to direct regularly, continuously, resolutely and urgently. The Politburo has issued a conclusion directing the response and overcoming of the consequences of storm No. 3 and floods; Party and State leaders, headed by General Secretary and President To Lam, have inspected and directly directed at the scene. The entire political system, all levels, sectors and localities have urgently and resolutely taken action, promptly informed and directed to support people in responding, limiting the impact and overcoming the consequences of storm No. 3.

Thanks to the close, timely and drastic leadership of the Politburo, the Secretariat, directly by General Secretary and President To Lam; the participation of the entire political system; the drastic, proactive direction and management, timely and effective response, early, from afar, directly on the scene of the Government, the Prime Minister, ministries, branches and localities; the support and companionship of the people and the business community... we have minimized the extent of damage and potential risks and promptly overcome the consequences of storm No. 3.

In order to urgently overcome the consequences of storm No. 3, quickly stabilize the people's situation, promote the recovery of production and business, actively promote economic growth, control inflation well, continue to strive for economic growth in 2024 of about 6.8-7%, the Government requests ministers, heads of ministerial-level agencies, government agencies, other central agencies, Chairmen of People's Committees of 26 provinces and centrally-run cities affected by storm No. 3, based on their assigned functions, tasks and powers, to urgently, drastically, promptly and effectively implement the conclusions of the Politburo, resolutions and directions of the Government and the Prime Minister, in which it is necessary to focus on implementing key tasks and solutions.

Support policies and solutions must be quick, effective, and direct to affected subjects.

The Government's viewpoint is that support policies and solutions must be fast, feasible, timely, effective, focused, and direct to affected subjects; the procedures, processes, and conditions for benefiting must be simple, easy to implement, easy to check, monitor, and evaluate.

Inheriting policies that have been implemented and promoted effectively; expanding the scope and subjects of application for policies that are being implemented, have a legal basis, organizational structure, processes and regulations for immediate implementation.

Promote the initiative and resources of all levels, sectors and localities, focusing on policies under the authority of the Government, Prime Minister, ministries, agencies and localities to reduce the time for submission to competent authorities for approval.

Mobilize all resources, manage and allocate them reasonably and effectively, prevent loss, waste, negativity, group interests, policy profiteering, and ensure publicity and transparency.

Do a good job of information and communication work, contribute to creating social consensus, arouse and promote the strength of great national unity and the political system, especially at the grassroots level in organization and implementation.

Protecting people's lives, safety and health is paramount; first and foremost, quickly restoring production, supply and labor chains.

The goal is to protect the lives, safety, and health of the people first and foremost. The sick must not lack a place to be treated; students must be able to go to school as soon as possible.

Ensure social security, prevent people from lacking food, clothing, housing, or clean water; promptly restore social activities to stabilize people's lives, especially in areas most severely affected by storms, floods, and landslides.

Quickly restore production, supply, and labor chains, recover and develop production and business, maintain growth momentum and recovery of localities and the economy in 2024.

Prepare well and be ready to respond to natural disasters, storms, floods, landslides, etc., especially in the last months of 2024 and early 2025.

Maintain political stability, order, social security, safety, and public safety.

Scope and objects of support

The resolution clearly states the scope and objects of support are people, workers, disadvantaged people, business households, cooperatives, and enterprises in areas affected by storm No. 3, floods, landslides.

The support period is mainly in September and October 2024; some support policies for business households and enterprises can be extended, with additional resources to be implemented until the end of 2025 to suit the recovery of businesses and business households and seasonal factors in production and business.

6 key task groups and solutions

The Government has proposed 6 groups of key tasks and solutions to urgently overcome the consequences of storm No. 3, quickly stabilize the people's situation, promote the recovery of production and business, actively promote economic growth, and control inflation well:

Protect people's lives, safety and health

The Ministry of National Defense, the Ministry of Public Security, and local authorities at all levels must mobilize all forces to search for missing people; increase the deployment of forces and vehicles to patrol, relocate, and evacuate people from high-risk areas and transport aid and supplies to people.

The Ministry of Health coordinates with ministries, branches and localities to mobilize and arrange adequate medical forces, ensure medicines and medical supplies to treat injured and sick people; do a good job of disease prevention and control, environmental sanitation, water source sanitation, and ensure food hygiene and safety to absolutely prevent disease outbreaks after floods, especially in localities with flash floods, landslides and landslides.

The Ministry of Finance and localities shall ensure state budget funds to implement policies to directly support the burial of the deceased, families with deceased, missing or injured people hospitalized due to the impact of storm No. 3; resolve and pay fully and promptly the regimes and policies for relatives of the deceased.

Use state budget reserves and other legal sources to urgently relocate households and residential areas in areas at high risk of landslides, to be completed before September 30, 2024.

The Ministry of Finance and relevant ministries and agencies urgently provide food, equipment, supplies, chemicals, environmental cleaning, disinfectants, sterilants, water treatment, and disease prevention drugs from national reserves to support localities.

Localities coordinate with the Ministry of National Defense and the Ministry of Public Security to review, inspect, and by all means approach isolated areas to provide relief and rescue; focus on arranging temporary accommodation for people who have lost their homes, and provide food, foodstuffs, and clean water to people.

Support the restoration of social activities to stabilize people's lives.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development shall preside over determining the extent of damage and support needs of localities, and send them to the Ministry of Planning and Investment and the Ministry of Finance for synthesis and submission to the Prime Minister for allocation of the central budget reserve for 2024 to support localities in accordance with the law.

According to the assigned authority, functions and tasks, the Ministry of Labor - Invalids and Social Affairs, the Ministry of Construction, the Ministry of Finance, ministries, agencies and localities increase the level of support for poor households, near-poor households, households in difficult circumstances whose houses have collapsed, are completely damaged and need to be rebuilt, are severely damaged and need to be repaired and relocated from the state budget, the National Fund for Eliminating Temporary and Dilapidated Houses, the Fund for the Poor, support sources through the Central Committee of the Vietnam Fatherland Front and socialized sources.

Quickly and effectively implement current emergency support policies for poor households, near-poor households, and households in difficult circumstances to repair severely damaged houses, relocate houses, etc., following the motto "determine the extent of damage, provide timely support".

The Ministry of Planning and Investment, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and other ministries, agencies and localities mobilize partners and donors to mobilize financial resources and aid goods from countries and international organizations and provide prompt and timely support to affected people and localities.

The State Capital Management Committee at Enterprises directs corporations, general companies, and enterprises to focus all their efforts on restoring essential infrastructure (electricity, water, telecommunications, etc.) as soon as possible, fully and promptly meeting people's living and communication needs; not allowing power outages, telecommunications outages, and other essential services to be disrupted due to storms and floods.

The Ministry of Transport, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and localities use state budget reserves to urgently repair and soon put back into use civil works, schools, hospitals, medical facilities, health stations, irrigation works, etc.

Mobilize maximum legal capital sources to immediately reinforce weak and severely damaged dikes and embankments; repair and restore traffic infrastructure on key routes; weak bridges and culverts; especially restore traffic connections to residential areas that were cut off and isolated after storms and floods; and make plans to rebuild seriously damaged structures that cannot be repaired.

Direct investors and contractors to promptly overcome natural disasters, storms and floods, develop appropriate construction plans, and restore construction works as soon as possible to ensure the progress of works and projects, especially strategic and important national infrastructure projects.

Urgently restore medical examination and treatment at medical facilities, teaching and learning at schools. For schools and medical facilities that are severely damaged and cannot be used anymore, temporary schools will be built for students to study in September 2024, temporary medical facilities will be built to serve medical examination and treatment, and then plans will be made to rebuild the facilities that cannot be used anymore.

The Ministry of Industry and Trade, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, and localities closely monitor the situation and developments in supply and prices of goods in the area, especially in areas that have recently experienced flash floods, landslides, and severe landslides, promptly ensure supply, control prices, and prevent speculation, hoarding, price hikes, and taking advantage of natural disasters and storms and floods for profit.

The Ministry of Education and Training and localities will exempt and reduce tuition fees for students affected by storm No. 3 in the 2024-2025 school year.

The Ministry of Public Security strengthens the work of ensuring security, order and social safety, especially in areas affected by storms and floods; directs the grassroots police force to proactively advise local Party committees and authorities to strengthen coordination and participate in ensuring social security and public safety.

Focus on fighting against hostile forces, reactionary organizations, and opportunists who take advantage of natural disasters and post-storm flood recovery to sabotage the Party and State and spread bad and toxic information.

Proactively and strictly control cyberspace, resolutely fight against wrong, hostile viewpoints, and false information that causes public confusion. Prevent and neutralize cyberspace groups that use the name of "support, relief, and volunteering" to gather forces, incite disturbances to security and order, and spread bad, toxic, and fraudulent information on cyberspace.

Support production establishments, business households, cooperatives, and enterprises to quickly restore production, supply, and labor chains, recover and promote production, business development, and economic growth.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development focuses on directing, having flexible and effective production plans and remedial measures to restore agricultural production immediately after storms and floods; synthesizing needs, promptly reporting and proposing to competent authorities to decide on support for seeds, feed, chemicals and necessary materials for localities to restore agricultural production; directing inspection, review and synthesis of incidents and damage to the dike system and irrigation reservoirs caused by storms and floods and synthesizing and reporting to the Prime Minister on funding needs for immediate repair and restoration to ensure safety.

The Ministry of Finance urgently and effectively implements policies on tax, fee, charge exemption, land rent, water surface rent extension, etc. for those affected or damaged by storms, floods, landslides, in accordance with the law.

Direct insurance companies to urgently review and pay insurance benefits to affected customers according to regulations. Immediately make advance compensation to customers according to regulations.

The State Bank of Vietnam shall, based on the provisions of Clause 4, Article 147 of the Law on Credit Institutions 2024, report to the Prime Minister in September 2024 on the classification of assets, the level of risk provisioning, the method of risk provisioning and the use of risk provisioning to handle risks to support customers facing difficulties and losses due to the impact of storm No. 3.

Direct credit institutions to proactively calculate support plans, restructure debt terms, maintain debt groups, consider exempting or reducing interest rates for affected customers, develop new credit programs with appropriate preferential interest rates, and continue to provide new loans to customers to restore production and business after the storm in accordance with current legal regulations.

The Ministry of Planning and Investment shall preside over and coordinate with the Ministry of Finance to research, advise, and report to the Government and the Prime Minister in October 2024 to supplement resources for the Vietnam Bank for Social Policies to lend to credit programs being implemented at the Vietnam Bank for Social Policies, especially lending to poor households and other policy beneficiaries in the Northern Midlands and Mountains provinces; if necessary, report to the Prime Minister for consideration and adjustment of the credit growth target for 2024.

The Ministry of Industry and Trade studies and proposes policies to support the rapid restoration of damaged logistics facilities and warehouses to ensure uninterrupted supply chains.

Research on applying electricity price for tourist accommodation facilities equal to electricity production price.

The Ministry of Transport has instructed localities to urgently salvage ships sunk by storm No. 3 to ensure safety of waterway traffic, create conditions for businesses to repair and soon put them back into service for tourists.

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism coordinates with localities to allow tourism businesses in affected localities to reduce 80% of their travel service business deposits until June 2025.

The Government Inspectorate, ministries and branches temporarily suspend inspection and examination activities in localities so that localities can focus on overcoming the consequences of natural disasters and floods.

The Bank for Social Policies focuses on accelerating the disbursement of policy credit programs; reviewing and synthesizing the losses of customers borrowing from the bank, building demand for new customers and proposing capital sources for implementation, coordinating with the Ministry of Planning and Investment and the Ministry of Finance to report to competent authorities for consideration and decision.

Vietnam Social Security is studying the extension of social insurance payment for tourism businesses damaged by storm No. 3.

Ministries, agencies and localities direct contractors and construction units to inspect and review the current status of works under construction and construction machinery after the storm; dismantle, relocate or repair damaged structures, machinery and equipment; assess safety risks and have solutions to ensure safe resumption of construction.

Be prepared to respond to natural disasters, storms, floods, landslides... in the coming time.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and localities shall review villages and families whose houses were buried and resettle people in villages and houses to safety and complete this no later than December 31, 2024.

Reviewing weak, damaged, risky, and high-risk irrigation works, dykes, dams, reservoirs, etc. to develop a plan to allocate state budget capital for repair, reinforcement, upgrading, and new construction, ensuring requirements for prevention, response, and response to natural disasters, storms, and floods occurring in the coming time, especially in the last months of 2024.

Urgently review and synthesize projects for resettlement of residents in urgent disaster areas proposed by localities, including plans to build resettlement areas and interspersed resettlement areas to relocate people in areas at risk of flash floods and landslides (Decision 590/QD-TTg dated May 18, 2022) and in October 2024, coordinate with relevant ministries and branches to submit to the Prime Minister for consideration and decision to support localities from the central budget reserve fund in 2024.

Direct the operation of hydroelectric projects belonging to the reservoir system in the Red River basin according to regulations.

The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment investigates and surveys the flood situation and locations where landslides have occurred and are occurring; and delineates in detail areas at risk of landslides for warning purposes.

Overall review and adjustment of inter-reservoir processes of reservoirs based on updating, calculating, and fully and comprehensively considering unusual and emergency situations (in which it is necessary to specifically determine authority, responsibility, implementation process, implementation time, and at the same time review in accordance with the provisions of the Law on Civil Defense), climate change scenarios, etc.; flood season time in accordance with regulations and prioritize flood reduction capacity for downstream areas.

Research and propose a plan to use a portion of the flood prevention capacity above the normal water level of large and important reservoirs to enhance the ability to reduce floods downstream when emergency and unusual situations occur.

Strengthen the capacity to forecast and warn of natural disasters, storms and floods to promptly deploy appropriate prevention, control and response solutions. Build a natural disaster warning information system to serve the direction and implementation of response methods according to the level of natural disaster risk, connecting with the Government, ministries, branches and localities.

The Ministry of Transport and localities review and evaluate the current status of transport infrastructure, focusing on weak bridges on key roads and railways to have investment plans for repair, reinforcement, upgrading, renovation, and new construction to ensure requirements for prevention and response to natural disasters and storms and floods occurring in the coming time.

Ensure the arrangement of areas for dumping collapsed soil and rocks to facilitate traffic incident handling; do a good job of site clearance in case of major damage requiring road expansion or rerouting to ensure safety.

The Ministry of Industry and Trade shall preside over and coordinate with ministries and agencies to report to competent authorities for consideration and adjustment of regulations allowing energy sector units to increase the reserve level of replacement materials and equipment to promptly respond to natural disasters.

The Ministry of Education and Training, ministries, agencies and localities strengthen propaganda, training, guidance and equipping students and people with the necessary skills to respond, be self-reliant and promptly respond to natural disasters and epidemics.

The Ministry of Information and Communications has instructed localities and telecommunications enterprises to urgently restore telecommunications network infrastructure affected by storm No. 3 and post-storm floods; and deploy solutions to ensure communications to serve the direction and operation of the government in case of natural disasters and floods.

The Ministry of National Defense shall preside over and coordinate with relevant agencies to promptly complete the National Civil Defense Steering Committee, ensuring that disaster prevention and control work is operated smoothly, effectively and efficiently, inheriting and promoting the activities of the National Steering Committee for Disaster Prevention and Control and the National Committee for Incident Response, Disaster Response and Search and Rescue in the past, having response plans, especially for natural disasters and heavy rains and floods, not being passive or surprised, in which clarifying the operating mechanism of disaster prevention and control work that has been and is being effectively implemented in the system from the central to local levels to ensure consistency between the provisions of the Law on Civil Defense, the Law on Disaster Prevention and Control and other relevant provisions.

Mechanisms, policies, and solutions to reduce and simplify administrative procedures to implement support policies.

The Ministry of Construction, ministries, agencies and localities review and study the reduction of administrative procedures in construction investment management; allow production establishments, business households and enterprises to apply the provisions of Articles 89 and 130 of the Construction Law as amended and supplemented in accordance with the provisions of Law No. 62/2020/QH14 amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Construction Law to repair and rebuild works and factories affected by the consequences of natural disasters so that businesses can soon return to operation.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs continues to mobilize resources from international partners and the overseas Vietnamese community to support localities and people affected by natural disasters and floods.

The Ministry of Industry and Trade, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, ministries and agencies shall coordinate between provinces and cities affected by rain and floods with other provinces and cities upon request from localities to ensure the maintenance of essential goods supply for students and patients in localities affected by rain and floods.

Localities shall, based on the provisions at Points a, b, c, Clause 1, Article 23 of the Law on Bidding and Article 78 of Decree No. 24/2024/ND-CP, consider and decide, according to their functions and competence, on the appointment of shortened bidding for bidding packages that need to be implemented to immediately overcome or promptly handle the consequences caused by storm No. 3 and floods after the storm.

Based on legal regulations, consider and decide according to functions and authority on the application of investment procedures and processes for urgent works and projects for works and projects that need to be implemented to promptly prevent, combat and overcome consequences caused by storm No. 3 and floods after the storm.

Control inflation, promote economic growth

Ministries, agencies and localities, according to their assigned functions, tasks and authority, must grasp the market situation and commodity prices to have appropriate and effective solutions to stabilize the market. Promote production, ensure adequate supply of goods; strengthen inspection and supervision of the implementation of regulations on price management, stabilize prices of essential goods and raw materials for people's lives and production and business; strictly handle acts of speculation, hoarding, price increase and price manipulation according to law.

Boost agricultural production, ensure abundant food supply, especially in areas heavily affected by storms, floods and natural disasters, and absolutely prevent food shortages in the last months of the year.

Continue to promote savings, thoroughly save regular spending to reserve resources for social security, overcome the consequences of natural disasters, support people and invest in development. Resolutely speed up the construction progress of important, key national projects, inter-provincial, inter-regional, connecting the country, region and the world.

Continue to diversify export markets, diversify supply chains, prioritize exploitation and make the most of opportunities from key and strategic export markets and signed Free Trade Agreements (FTAs); promote negotiations and signing of new FTAs, expand new markets such as the Middle East, Africa, Halal product markets, etc.

Renewing traditional growth drivers and strongly promoting new growth drivers; maximizing external support resources to promote innovation, digital economic development, digital transformation, green transformation, new industries and sectors such as semiconductors, clean energy, hydrogen, etc.

Focus on implementing drastic, timely and effective solutions to remove difficulties and obstacles related to projects and land in inspection and examination conclusions and judgments in a number of provinces and cities and other stuck and pending projects, especially in localities affected by storm No. 3 and post-storm floods.

Ensure state budget resources to implement support policies.

The Government assigned ministers, heads of ministerial-level agencies, government agencies, and Chairmen of People's Committees of provinces and centrally-run cities to focus on thoroughly grasping, urgently organizing the synchronous, timely, and effective implementation of support solutions and policies, ensuring strict compliance with legal regulations, preventing loss, waste, negativity, and group interests; proactively handling difficulties, obstacles, and arising issues within their authority, and reporting to competent authorities on issues beyond their authority.

The Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Planning and Investment and localities ensure state budget resources to implement support policies.

Provinces and centrally-run cities urgently review and complete damage statistics, maximize local budget resources to proactively implement solutions and policies to overcome the consequences of storm No. 3, support people, businesses, business households, cooperatives, enterprises, promote economic growth according to their authority; urgently report on damage situation, propose support from the central budget, send to the Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Ministry of Planning and Investment before September 20, 2024 for synthesis, submit to the Prime Minister for consideration and support decision.

Vietnam Television, Voice of Vietnam, Vietnam News Agency, and press agencies continue to provide information, communication, and encouragement to people and businesses to overcome difficulties; promote the combined strength of the entire political system, the nation's fine traditions, and the spirit of mutual love and support to help and support each other in times of difficulty.

The Ministry of Home Affairs urgently proposes to reward and encourage collectives and individuals who are shining examples in preventing, combating, overcoming the consequences of natural disasters, and supporting people.

The Government requests the State Audit and the National Assembly Committees to consider temporarily suspending audits and supervision in localities according to the State Audit's audit plan, supervision activities according to the supervision program of the National Assembly, the National Assembly Standing Committee, and the National Assembly Committees so that localities can focus on overcoming the consequences of natural disasters and floods.

The Government respectfully requests the Central Committee of the Vietnam Fatherland Front and its member organizations, socio-political organizations, and the Vietnam Red Cross Society, in accordance with their duties and powers, to promptly organize programs to visit, encourage, give gifts, and support people affected by natural disasters, storms, and floods, especially vulnerable groups.