Ministry calls for support for Central region

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development in coordination with members of the Disaster Risk Reduction Partnership held a meeting in the capital city of Hanoi this morning to call for international assistance for the Central coastal provinces damaged by flooding.
Ministry calls for support for Central region  ảnh 1 Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development cum Head of the Partnership for Disaster Risk Reduction Nguyen Hoang Hiep chairs the meeting 
The meeting was chaired by Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development cum Head of the Partnership for Disaster Risk Reduction Nguyen Hoang Hiep, Country Director of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) cum Head of Partnership for Disaster Risk Reduction Andrew Jeffries.  

According to the General Department of Natural Disaster Prevention and Control, three storms and two tropical depressions have entered the East Sea, triggering torrential rainfall of 1,000- 2,300 mm in the Central provinces of Quang Tri and Thua Thien - Hue from the mid- September. 

Huge floods hit 14 large rivers, of which floodwater line on ten rivers from Quang Binh to Quang Nam exceeded 2 meters over alarm level 3, notably water levels on Bo River (Thua Thien- Hue), Hieu and O Lau rivers (Quang Tri) were higher than floodwater level in history. 

Residential areas have been submerged and isolated by rising floodwater.

Heavy rains caused frequent landslides and flash floods in the Central region, affecting the life of more than 7 million people who have been without food, fresh water and electricity. 

Additionally, the floods made hundreds of people dead or missing, hundreds of collapsed houses, losses of thousands of rice and vegetable crops, thousands of cattle and poultry, hundreds of hectares of fishing farms.

Roads, bridges and irrigation works, electricity network systems and telecommunications were destroyed with significant economic damage from flooding. 

Speaking at the meeting, Deputy Minister Nguyen Hoang Hiep said that amid these urgent challenges, the Central Steering Committee for Natural Disaster Prevention and Control suggested ministries, agencies, local authorities, domestic and foreign donors and compatriots nationwide to help the Central provinces and cities to overcome difficulties and consequences of natural disasters.

Up to now, the Standing Office of the Central Steering Committee for Natural Disaster Prevention and Control received pledges of assistance from the AHA Center, the Embassy of Japan in Vietnam, the US Embassy, the United States Agency for International Development and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) in Vietnam. 

Other news