Urgently overcome the consequences of storm number 3

The conference was held in person at the Government headquarters, online to the Standing Office of the National Steering Committee for Natural Disaster Prevention and Control and the 26 northern provinces and cities from Thanh Hoa and beyond.

At Hai Duong bridge, the Standing Committee of the Provincial Party Committee: Tran Duc Thang, Member of the Party Central Committee, Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee; Le Ngoc Chau, Deputy Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee, Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee chaired the conference. Also attending were members of the Provincial Steering Committee for Natural Disaster Prevention and Search and Rescue, leaders of the Provincial Party Committee Office, the Provincial People's Committee Office and districts, cities and towns in the province.

Speaking at the opening of the conference, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh emphasized that storm No. 3 is a storm with high intensity, high speed, wide range, many impacts, long duration, causing heavy rain and floods over a large area, causing serious consequences for people, property, material and spiritual life in the northern provinces. With the spirit of the nation, compatriots and the development of the country, the Prime Minister requested the conference to review the situation, focus on discussing, contributing ideas, proposing tasks and solutions to respond to the consequences of storm No. 3 and post-storm floods. Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh requested all levels and sectors to urgently and urgently deploy solutions to achieve four major goals. These are to promptly overcome the consequences of the storm; quickly stabilize the people's situation; restore production and business activities; and promote economic growth.

In his concluding remarks, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh conveyed the condolences of the Politburo, the Secretariat, General Secretary, President To Lam and the leaders of the Party and State to agencies, localities, units and especially the families of those who died, went missing or were injured due to super typhoon No. 3. The Prime Minister choked up and burst into tears several times when mentioning the devastation, severe consequences and losses and damages to the people and the country.

Analyzing the causes of the storm's huge consequences, the Prime Minister said that besides objective causes, there are still some people who are subjective and do not strictly and fully comply with the instructions and recommendations of the authorities; leadership and direction in some places and at some times are not resolute; means and equipment for disaster response and rescue work do not meet requirements...

The Prime Minister emphasized some lessons learned: Closely follow the situation, make accurate forecasts; propaganda and mobilization work must be fast, timely, and widespread; timely, accurate, appropriate, and effective direction. Ministries, branches, localities, and all levels must be proactive and active with "3 before, 4 on-site" in preventing and overcoming consequences. Take people as the center and subject, put people's lives and health first and foremost. Mobilize the strength of the entire political system, the Party leads, the State manages, and the people are the masters.

"We have tried our best. We have found the best possible solution, we have found what is left in what is lost... But the irreplaceable loss is the lives and spirits of the people, the families whose loved ones died," the Prime Minister was moved.

On behalf of the Party and State leaders, the Prime Minister acknowledged, highly appreciated and commended the ministries, branches, provinces and cities for showing great responsibility, great efforts and drastic actions to do the best they could; thanked the people for joining the Party Committee, government and functional forces, especially the Army and Police. At the same time, the Prime Minister requested to do a good job of emulation and reward for organizations and individuals who did well, especially those who sacrificed while performing their duties; criticized and strictly handled cases of subjectivity, negligence and failure to complete tasks.

The Head of Government emphasized the upcoming goals: No one should be left without food, clothing, hunger, cold, clean water, shelter, or daily necessities; effectively overcome the consequences of super typhoon No. 3; quickly stabilize the people's spiritual and material situation; restore production and business activities; control inflation well and strive for GDP growth of about 7% for the whole year; maintain political stability, social order and safety, and a peaceful, stable, cooperative, and developing environment.

According to the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, storm No. 3 is the strongest storm in the past 30 years in the East Sea. This storm has increased in intensity very quickly, increasing by 8 levels in 24 hours and maintaining the super typhoon level for a long time. When it landed in the east of Hainan Island (China), it still maintained the super typhoon level.

Storm No. 3 has an irregular downgrade, when approaching the coast of Hanoi-Hai Phong, it still maintains the intensity of level 12-13. The storm's stay on land lasts 12 hours. Storm No. 3 causes strong winds, near the storm center level 13-14, gusting to level 16-17. At the same time, it causes heavy rain in the Northern region and Thanh Hoa with rainfall from September 7-12 ranging from 250-450 mm. Heavy rain due to the storm's circulation causes heavy rain lasting for many days after the storm passes with high intensity of over 200 mm/day. Heavy rain causes water levels in rivers in the North to rise rapidly, 20 out of 25 northern provinces and cities experience serious flooding. Some areas in Cao Bang, Lao Cai, Yen Bai, Quang Ninh... experience serious landslides...

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development reported that as of 3 p.m. on September 14, storm No. 3 and subsequent floods had left 352 people dead or missing, 1,917 injured, and 231,851 houses damaged. In agricultural production, 190,358 hectares of rice, 48,727 hectares of vegetables, and 31,745 hectares of fruit trees were flooded and damaged; 3,269 aquaculture cages were damaged and swept away; 21,786 livestock and poultry died. Due to the long storm circulation time, strong gusts of wind damaged many shops, offices, schools, advertising signs, telecommunication poles, electric poles, trees, etc.; many provinces and cities suffered widespread power outages and communication outages. Storms and floods caused many dangerous dike incidents. Initial damage estimates caused by storm No. 3 are nearly 32,000 billion VND.

In Hai Duong, storm No. 3 made landfall directly in the province with a strong intensity of level 12, gusting to level 13, causing widespread rain with rainfall ranging from 90-150 mm, in some places over 300 mm. Water levels in rivers in the province rose very quickly, some rivers exceeded alert level III and remained for many days, causing pressure and risk of insecurity of the dike and irrigation system in the province. As of September 13, to respond to storm No. 3 and post-storm floods, Hai Duong issued 15 dispatches, mobilizing more than 10,000 officers and soldiers to support people in storm and flood prevention, moving people and property in dangerous areas to safety... The province immediately allocated 60 billion VND to 12 districts, cities and towns to urgently handle and overcome the consequences of storms and floods.

As of September 13, storm No. 3 and subsequent floods have caused about 7,755 hectares of rice, 3,202 hectares of vegetables, and 4,372 hectares of fruit trees to be flooded, crushed, or broken; 4,000 livestock and poultry died, 569 hectares of aquaculture, and 434 fish cages on the river were flooded or swept away. Nearly 21,000 structures (houses, warehouses, factories, headquarters, schools, billboards, signs, etc.) were damaged, had their roofs blown off, or collapsed; 102,000 trees, 1,798 electric poles, and 9 BTS stations were broken and collapsed... Floods caused many dike and irrigation incidents. The initial estimate of damage caused by the storm in the province is more than 1,500 billion VND. Data on the damage caused by storm No. 3 and subsequent floods is still being updated.