Directive No. 07/1999/CT-TTg on flood and storm prevention and disaster mitigation work in 1999

DIRECTIVE

Flood and Typhoon Prevention and Disaster Mitigation Work in 1999

In 1998, the rainy season in the Northern region ended early, while the Southern region experienced almost no floods. The Central coastal provinces were directly affected by five typhoons and floods over the last two months of the year, causing significant losses in human lives and property. At the beginning of 1999, widespread droughts across the country, particularly in the Central region, the Central Highlands, the midland and mountainous areas in the North, severely impacted agricultural production and daily water supply for residents. According to the forecast of the General Department of Meteorology and Hydrology, weather conditions in 1999 will continue to be complex and unpredictable. To proactively respond to unfavorable situations caused by typhoons and floods, minimize losses from natural disasters, the Prime Minister instructs ministries, ministerial-level agencies, government-affiliated agencies, and provincial people's committees under the central government to implement the following tasks:

1. Organize evaluations and draw lessons from flood and typhoon prevention work in 1998 at each locality, promptly direct the development of plans and specific measures for flood and typhoon prevention and disaster mitigation in 1999, especially the implementation at key county and commune levels, relevant sector plans to timely and effectively address unfavorable situations, minimizing losses caused by natural disasters.

2. Strengthen the organization of flood and typhoon prevention steering committees at all levels and sectors. Chairmen of provincial people's committees and heads of relevant sectors shall serve as chairpersons; consolidate communication networks, forecasting systems, and warning systems; strictly enforce duty rosters during the flood and typhoon seasons.

3. Provinces with dike systems must strengthen management, regularly inspect and evaluate the quality of each dike section, particularly weak sections, to promptly identify and address any damages to the dike body; mobilize all resources to promptly repair and reinforce weak areas, focusing on completing the dike construction plan before April 30, 1999; develop protection plans for weak areas; properly prepare dike defense work according to the principle of "four localities" and have emergency solutions to deal with potential large floods; increase inspections and handling of violations of the Dike Law and Flood and Typhoon Prevention Law; suspend all construction projects within flood discharge corridors; inspect the entire system of low dikes, control the height of low dikes only up to level 2 warning, and develop plans to protect people and assets in low dike areas when warnings exceed level 2.

4. Localities and sectors managing reservoirs must proactively coordinate closely with project management agencies, organize inspections and evaluations of project safety before the flood and typhoon season; develop flood control plans to protect projects and ensure safety for downstream residents.

5. Localities in mountainous and midland areas prone to flash floods, coastal areas often submerged by high tides and waves, and regions at risk of landslides, provincial people's committees must develop plans to organize the evacuation of residents to safe locations, avoiding consequences that occur only after incidents happen.

6. Provinces in the Mekong Delta should base their plans on recent flood water levels, develop strategies and measures to deal with potential large floods to proactively protect key economic zones, urban areas, and concentrated residential areas, ensuring no loss of life due to floods as in previous years, while also actively retaining water for summer-autumn production and preventing saline intrusion if large floods do not occur.

- Coastal provinces in the Central region should develop plans to address the adverse effects of simultaneous typhoons, floods, and high tides with unexpected intensity.

- Provinces in the Red River Delta, midland, and northern central regions must complete the reinforcement of the dike system before the flood and typhoon season; establish plans, prepare manpower and equipment for dike rescue operations, especially the provinces of Ha Tay, Ha Nam, Vinh Phuc, and Hai Duong, which should be ready for flood diversion and delay plans when large floods occur.

7. The National Steering Committee for Flood and Typhoon Prevention must promptly prepare emergency response plans for floods and typhoons, report to the Prime Minister for approval.

8. The General Department of Meteorology and Hydrology needs to improve the quality of meteorological and hydrological forecasts, particularly medium-term and short-term forecasts, to timely support flood and typhoon prevention and disaster mitigation efforts. Regularly provide flow data and information about typhoons and floods to the National Steering Committee for Flood and Typhoon Prevention to promptly prepare for various scenarios.

9. The National Committee for Air and Sea Search and Rescue must prepare sufficient forces and equipment; based on experience from search and rescue operations over the past two years, continue to lead and coordinate with relevant ministries, sectors, and localities to promptly implement search and rescue operations.

10. Responsibilities of Ministries:

- The Ministry of Industry directs Vietnam Electricity Corporation and the Management Boards of major reservoirs such as Hoa Binh, Thac Ba, Tri An, and Dau Tieng to develop flood prevention plans for these facilities; based on forecasts, develop water storage diagrams and flood prevention capacities of these reservoirs, effectively participate in flood reduction for downstream areas.

- The Ministry of Defense develops plans and deploys forces to be ready for rescue operations, dike defense support, and handling emergency situations, considering this a regular combat mission for the military.

- The Ministry of Public Security has the responsibility to deploy forces and equipment in critical areas, ensuring social security and public order when natural disasters occur.

The Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development must prepare adequate preventive drug supplies, organize inspections, and deploy forces to prevent diseases among people, livestock, and crops in disaster-affected areas; quickly extinguish disease outbreaks as soon as they arise.

- The Ministry of Fisheries and provincial and municipal people's committees under the central government have the responsibility to coordinate with relevant ministries and sectors to strictly implement regulations ensuring safety for fishermen and fishing vessels operating at sea; proactively call fishing boats back to shore and organize anchoring when typhoons occur.

- The Ministry of Transport shall plan to ensure traffic capacity on the North-South route and other key routes; prepare rescue and replacement means ready for traffic incidents.

- The Ministry of Commerce shall coordinate with the People's Committees of provinces to plan for the reserve of essential goods, implement supply of goods to remote areas before the flood and storm season.

- The Ministry of Culture and Information, Vietnam Television, Voice of Vietnam, and other mass media agencies shall strengthen information dissemination work, promptly disseminate forecast information, policies, directives, and orders regarding flood and storm prevention; cooperate with relevant ministries and specialized agencies to enhance propaganda and guidance to the public on basic knowledge about disaster prevention so that all citizens have knowledge and can proactively participate in prevention and effective mitigation.

11. Ministries and central sectoral agencies, in addition to doing well in flood and storm prevention and protection of their own facilities, shall also prepare forces, means, and materials ready to participate in flood and storm prevention and aftermath mitigation work according to the mobilization by the Prime Minister and the Central Steering Committee for Flood and Storm Prevention.

The Central Steering Committee for Flood and Storm Prevention, ministries, sectoral agencies, and People's Committees of provinces and centrally governed cities shall organize inspections of the implementation of the Prime Minister's Directive on flood and storm prevention and disaster reduction in their respective sectors and localities.

The Prime Minister requests that ministers, heads of ministerial-level agencies, heads of agencies under the Government, and Chairpersons of People's Committees of provinces and centrally governed cities strictly implement this Directive.