More than 75,000 people are on duty for natural disaster prevention and control

Natural disasters cause great loss of life and damage to property

Located in a province with high mountainous terrain and complicated geology, many households living and cultivating agriculture along rivers and streams in Yen Bai province are often affected and damaged by natural disasters.

Mr. Pham Nguyen Binh, Head of the Van Chan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, shared that in order to be proactive in the work of natural disaster prevention and control and adapt to climate change, the district has 24/24 communes and towns establishing and consolidating a vanguard force with 1,736 members for natural disaster prevention and control.

According to Mr. Nguyen Xuan Sang, Deputy Director of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development and Permanent Member of the Commanding Committee of Natural Disaster Prevention and Control, Search and Rescue of Yen Bai Province, so far, Yen Bai Province has 173/173 commune-level administrative units that have established a vanguard force for natural disaster prevention and control with more than 13,000 participants. The reserve force has over 62,000 people ready to participate in natural disaster prevention and control and search and rescue activities throughout the province.

Yen Bai province operates 132 automatic rain gauge stations, five hydrographic stations, one Red River flood warning station in Yen Bai city, a warning system for early landslides located in Mu Cang Chai district, and one station in Van Yen district.

All information on natural disasters and warnings about floods and areas with landslides and flash floods has been updated and communicated promptly to the public through the mass media and applications on social networks.

There are still many difficulties

Mr. Nguyen Xuan Sang also said that, in order to minimize the damage caused by natural disasters, besides improving the forecasting and warning capacity of specialized agencies, the work of early forecasting is one of the best measures to reduce damage. In addition, localities need to upgrade equipment, monitor technology, and apply modern forecasting technology to disaster prevention and control.

Before each rainy and stormy season, the specialized agencies also need to organize delegation groups with localities to investigate, survey, and map out areas with a high risk of flash floods and landslides; review and inspect water reservoirs, dikes, key points to forecast and develop appropriate response plans, etc.

Up to now, 100% of local authorities at all levels have developed natural disaster risk response plans at each level, especially plans to cope with flash floods and landslides.

The work of directing to deal with and overcome the consequences of natural disasters such as flash floods, and landslides has always received close and direct attention and direction. However, according to the Commanding Committee of Natural Disaster Prevention and Control, Search and Rescue of Yen Bai Province, in reality, the work of disaster prevention still has some difficulties: the terrain is complicated and divided, and the population is not concentrated. Dangerous weather phenomena such as heavy rain, flash floods, and landslides have continued to occur in an increasing direction in both intensity and frequency in recent years.

The warning system for flash floods and landslides is still lacking, so localities are still passive in preventing and controlling natural disasters when they occur. People also have a subjective mindset about preventing rain, floods, storms, and tornadoes. The bracing of houses and repairing construction before the rainy and stormy seasons have not been taken seriously.

In order to be ready to proactively respond to the rainy and stormy season in 2023, the Commanding Committee of Natural Disaster Prevention and Control, Search and Rescue of Yen Bai Province said: "In response to the complicated changes of weather and to proactively respond in any possible situation, the unit is ready to put into use nearly 350 canvas tents of all kinds, 200 generators, 120 pumps, over 4,000 life jackets, and many other important pieces of supporting equipment."

Over the past years, the Commanding Committee has also been active in responding to and alleviating the consequences of natural disasters and search and rescue with a number of synchronous and drastic measures, bringing into full play its role as a vanguard and reliable force of the local authorities and people in the area.