Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Nguyen Hoang Hiep chaired the conference along with the attendance of Permanent Vice Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee Le Thanh Liem and representatives of 19 provinces and cities, international agencies.
The conference showed natural disasters analyzations and forecasts in 2020, plans against rainy, stormy season in the Southern region.
Statistics showed that there were 141 whirlwinds and thunderstorms in the Southern region, a record torrential downpour in Phu Quoc Island in Kien Giang Province with a total rainfall of 1.173 mm, high tide spells over Ho Chi Minh City and some coastal provinces in the Mekong Delta, the southwest monsoon triggering serious landslide at sea dyke systems in Ca Mau Province last year.
Last year, the natural disasters caused 16 people dead and missing with a total damage at VND466 billion (US$ 20 million).
In the first months of this year, historic drought and saltwater intrusion in the Mekong Delta exceed record levels in 2016, damaging over 50,000 hectares of rice crop and affecting freshwater supply source for 96,000 households.
Notably, Ho Chi Minh City braced for four cyclones and thunderstorms, seven high tides and five landslides along riverbanks and canals which damaged 22 houses and 256 trees and swallowed 806 square meters of land.
In the recent years, Ho Chi Minh City has synchronously implemented numerous measures and solutions such as regularly issuing documents to direct and manage natural disaster prevention, search and recuse, promoting training and propaganda to raise public awareness, inspecting and chopping branches off trees, prioritizing investment in projects dealing with natural disasters, flooding and landslide , step by step raising the capacity of natural disaster forecast, warning and information.
From now until the end of the year, additional 11 to 13 storms and tropical depressions will enter the East Sea, of which about 5 to 6 storms is forecast to directly affect the mainland of the Central and Southern regions in the second half of the year, floodwater in the Mekong River is expected to peak at level 1-2.
