Directive No. 12/1998/CT-TTg on flood and storm prevention and mitigation of natural disasters in 1998

DIRECTIVE

OF THE PRIME MINISTER

On flood and storm prevention and mitigation of natural disasters in 1998

In recent years, natural disasters have occurred in many places in the region and around the world. In our country, floods, storms, and other natural disasters have also continuously occurred in many regions nationwide, particularly Storm No. 5 in 1997, which caused severe losses to southern provinces and central provinces, with its aftermath still needing to be addressed for several more years.

The global and regional climate changes, with sudden and abnormal weather phenomena, make it increasingly likely for natural disasters to occur contrary to patterns and with greater severity, adversely affecting people's lives, production, and the activities of state agencies, economic and social organizations.

To proactively prevent and combat floods and storms, respond to unfavorable weather conditions, and mitigate natural disasters in 1998, 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 well:

1. Organize the summary of flood and storm prevention work in 1997, seriously review and draw lessons from the strengths and weaknesses regarding preparation, response, and recovery from natural disasters, especially the organization of prevention, combating, and recovery from the aftermath of Storm No. 5; propose directions and tasks for flood and storm prevention and natural disaster mitigation in 1998 in a specific and practical manner for each management field of each sector and locality to minimize losses caused by natural disasters as much as possible. Strengthen propaganda and education to enhance the community's proactive response to natural disasters.

Ministries, sectors, and localities need to take specific measures to retain water, use water economically to ensure sufficient water for agricultural, industrial, and domestic purposes; retain water in reservoirs to ensure normal water supply and power generation, address and prevent negative consequences due to the ongoing serious drought that may persist and become complex throughout the country.

2. Urgently address the aftermath of natural disasters in 1997, particularly repairing water conservancy, transportation infrastructure, and other basic facilities; complete the dike repair plan, including new volumes before the 1998 flood season. Inspect flood and storm prevention works, reservoirs, promptly mobilize all resources for repair and supplementation before the flood; develop flood and storm prevention plans for vulnerable areas and key projects.

3. Improve the organization of the Flood and Storm Prevention Command, flood and storm prevention forces at all levels and sectors; consolidate the communication system and warning system to provide uninterrupted information to the public, timely preventing typhoons and floods; strictly implement duty shifts during the flood and storm season to effectively carry out flood and storm prevention work in 1998.

4. The Fisheries and Transport sectors, People's Committees of coastal provinces must implement mandatory ship inspections, ensuring ships going to sea have sufficient life-saving equipment to ensure safety for people, have rescue means for ships, and each fishing fleet must be equipped with radios to receive meteorological information and disaster warnings on public media systems. Provide specific guidance on sheltering and anchoring ships during storms.

The National Committee for Search and Rescue must prepare force deployment plans ready to execute search and rescue orders when natural disasters occur, while closely coordinating with border guards, local rescue forces to mobilize comprehensive efforts when necessary, aiming to minimize human and asset losses. Coastal provinces must strictly implement Directive No. 39/TTg dated January 18, 1997, of the Prime Minister on ensuring safety for fishery workers and vessels operating at sea and Directive No. 07/1998/CT-TTg dated February 5, 1998, of the Prime Minister on building search and rescue forces from central to local levels.

5. Provinces with dikes must do well in dike protection work, implement the principle of "four localities" (command, forces, materials, and logistics), strictly implement dike patrol and guard duties, promptly detect and organize immediate handling of dike, embankment, and sluice gate incidents from their initial occurrence.

The Chairmen of People's Committees at all levels must personally inspect and prepare dike protection and rescue plans, anticipate potential worst-case scenarios and specific handling plans for each situation, organize drills before the flood season.

6. Areas frequently hit by flash floods, deep flooding, seawater intrusion, and erosion must have evacuation and relocation plans.

Southern provinces of the Mekong Delta must implement the Government's decisions on flood control, based on recent flood levels to take proactive measures; urgently direct the dredging of canals, repair and reinforce saltwater barriers, embankments, combine freshwater retention to meet agricultural development requirements; proactively arrange planting schedules to ensure summer rice harvest before the main flood season, while planning post-flood drainage; protect residential areas, manage and protect students during major floods; organize patrols and guard duties, prepare materials to handle incidents during the flood season.

All levels of authority and transportation sectors must coordinate with relevant sectors to plan the smooth operation of the North-South route and mountainous routes often blocked by landslides.

The Commerce sector must cooperate with local authorities to organize the provision of essential goods to remote areas before the flood and storm seasons.

8. The Central Flood and Storm Prevention Steering Committee must coordinate with the Ministry of Industry, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, and the General Meteorology and Hydrology Administration to operate the Hòa Bình and Thác Bà hydropower reservoirs effectively to participate in downstream flood reduction.

With respect to the flood diversion project on the Day River, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and the People's Committees of the localities within the flood diversion area (Ha Tay, Ha Nam, and Ninh Binh) must prepare all protective measures for the Day River dike system and post-flood support work in the flood diversion area to be ready for flood diversion upon the Prime Minister's directive.

9. Central Ministries and sectors, in addition to effectively carrying out flood and storm prevention work to protect their respective facilities, must also prepare all forces, means, and materials to participate in flood and storm prevention and mitigation efforts according to the coordination of the Central Steering Committee for Flood and Storm Prevention and the Prime Minister.

The Ministry of National Defense and the Ministry of Public Security shall deploy forces and means in vulnerable areas to ensure security and social order, and be ready for rescue operations upon the Prime Minister's mobilization order.

The Ministries of Health and Agriculture and Rural Development shall develop plans and prepare sufficient reserves of preventive medicines, organize inspections, and deploy forces to prevent diseases among people, livestock, and crops in vulnerable areas and regions affected by natural disasters, swiftly extinguishing any outbreaks that occur.

The Hydro-Meteorological General Department shall closely cooperate with the World Meteorological Organization, regional meteorological organizations, and neighboring countries to further improve the quality of forecasts regarding typhoons, floods, and other natural disasters; promptly inform localities, sectors, and the public of necessary information to proactively respond to any situation.

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism shall direct mass media agencies to intensify publicity and dissemination of knowledge about natural disasters and preventive measures to the community so that every citizen understands the harm caused by natural disasters, prepares themselves adequately, and works together with the community to effectively prevent and mitigate natural disasters. At the same time, they must strictly adhere to the regulations on disaster information dissemination as stipulated by law. Ministers, Heads of government agencies, and Chairmen of Provincial People's Committees directly under the central government shall organize and implement this Directive strictly.

The Central Steering Committee for Flood and Storm Prevention and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development shall be responsible for inspecting and urging the implementation of this Directive and reporting the results to the Prime Minister./.