Decision No. 17/2002/QD-BNN Issuing Regulations on Management and Use of Reserve Materials for Flood and Typhoon Prevention

Pursuant to …;

Issuing regulations on management and use of flood and storm prevention reserve materials

THE MINISTER OF AGRICULTURE AND RURAL DEVELOPMENT

- Based on the Law on Dikes promulgated on September 7, 2000;

- Based on the Law on Flood and Storm Prevention (amended and supplemented, promulgated on September 24, 2000);

- Based on Decree No. 73/CP dated November 1, 1995 of the Government on the functions, tasks, powers, and organizational structure of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development;

- To unify the management and use of reserve materials for flood and storm prevention;

- At the proposal of the Director of the Science, Technology and Product Quality Department, the Director of the Flood and Storm Prevention and Dike Management Bureau,

Pursuant to …;

Article 1:Issued together with this Decision "Regulations on Management and Use of Reserve Materials for Flood and Storm Prevention".

Article 2:The Director of the Flood and Storm Prevention and Dike Management Bureau, the Director of the Science, Technology and Product Quality Department shall be responsible for assisting the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development to disseminate, guide, and monitor the implementation of these Regulations.

Article 3:This Decision takes effect 15 days from the date of signature. All previous provisions contrary to this Regulation are abolished.

Article 4:Chairmen of People's Committees of Provinces and Cities with dikes that have been provided with reserve materials for flood and storm prevention by the Central Government, Heads of the Ministry's Office, Directors of the Science, Technology and Product Quality Department, Directors of the Flood and Storm Prevention and Dike Management Bureau, Heads of related units are responsible for implementing this Decision.

REGULATIONS ON MANAGEMENT AND USE

OF RESERVE MATERIALS FOR FLOOD AND STORM PREVENTION

(Issued pursuant to Decision No.: 17/2002/QĐ-BNN dated March 12, 2002)

of the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development)

PART I
GENERAL PROVISIONS

Article 1:These Regulations apply to the management of warehouses, storage, preservation, and use of reserve materials for flood and storm prevention (FSP) purchased using central government budget funds aimed at addressing emergency situations involving dike failures during the flood and storm season. 

Article 2:Reserve materials for FSP regulated under these Regulations include various types of materials, supplies, and main equipment (such as nylon bags, filter fabrics, waterproof fabrics, steel baskets, steel bars, gravel, crushed stone, pebbles, sand; generators, motor boats), funded by the State through one or multiple purchases each year based on quantities and types approved by the Government.

Article 3:These Regulations may also be applied to reserve materials for FSP sourced from other funds and other water conservancy projects (such as reservoirs, dams, etc.) that store materials for FSP in their management and use.

Article 4:Responsibilities for managing reserve materials for FSP.

1- Local authorities at all levels are responsible for organizing the management and protection of reserve materials for FSP located in their areas, promoting education and mobilizing the public to actively participate in protecting such materials and supplies; strictly handling acts of theft, destruction, or excessive loss of reserve materials for FSP within their jurisdiction.

2- Specialized Dike Management Teams are tasked with assisting local authorities and Departments of Agriculture and Rural Development in managing reserve materials for FSP within the scope of the dikes they manage. 

3- Units or individuals assigned the direct responsibility of managing reserve materials for FSP must regularly inspect warehouses and storage areas for reserve materials for FSP; upon discovering damage to warehouses or storage areas, or loss or damage to reserve materials for FSP, they must prepare a report and promptly inform relevant authorities to take appropriate measures.

Article 5:Regarding the rotation of reserve materials for FSP.

For certain types of reserve materials for FSP that can only be stored for a limited time, such as steel baskets, steel wires, bags, geotextiles, annual plans for using expired reserve materials should be established. When damaged materials are discovered, timely reports must be made to competent authorities to arrange for their conversion to other uses, requesting funding to replenish the required reserves as stipulated. 

Article 6:Handling in cases where disaster prevention reserve materials are damaged or lost.

When damage or loss of materials is discovered, an inspection must be organized. The inspection team shall be established by the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, with the participation of the warehouse manager, the dike management team leader, representatives from the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, local authorities, village police (ward), and financial agencies. The inspection content includes determining the extent and quantity of damaged or lost materials, and preparing an inspection report. The report must be sent to the participating inspection agencies, the directly supervising superior agency, the Provincial People's Committee (city), the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, and the Ministry of Finance. If the damage or loss of disaster prevention reserve materials occurs due to the negligence of the manager, they will be dealt with according to the level of violation as stipulated by law.

Article 7:The rate of material loss for main disaster prevention reserve materials is specified as follows:

1- Annual storage loss rate:

- Boulder: 1%/year based on volume; Steel wire: 1%/year based on weight;

- Gravel: 1%/year based on volume; Sacks: 1%/year based on quantity;

- Yellow sand: 3%/year based on volume; Filter cloth: 0%/year based on area;

- Steel cage: 0%/year based on quantity.

2- Loss rate during collection and transportation from old location to new location:

- Boulder: 1%/time V/c based on volume; Steel wire: 1%/time V/c based on weight;

- Gravel: 1%/time V/c based on volume; Sacks: 1%/time V/c based on quantity;

- Yellow sand: 5%/time V/c based on volume; Filter cloth: 0%/time V/c based on area;

- Steel cage: 0%/time V/c based on quantity.

Chapter II
WAREHOUSES AND STORAGE OF DISASTER PREVENTION RESERVE MATERIALS

Article 8:Warehouses for materials.

1- Warehouses used for storing materials that are easily damaged by weather conditions (such as filter cloth, steel cages, sacks, and machinery such as generators, pushers) specifically for disaster prevention purposes must meet the following requirements:

a- The warehouse must be constructed securely, fireproof, flood-proof, storm-proof, leak-proof, and theft-proof. It must be well-ventilated, have sufficient lighting, and be equipped with moisture control devices, pest control devices; materials stored in the warehouse must be arranged reasonably, in accordance with technical requirements, facilitating regular inspections, periodic inventory checks, and convenient for material entry and exit.

b- To facilitate management work and timely service for disaster prevention operations, warehouses should be built near the dike management team headquarters. Around the warehouse, there must be protective walls, wide enough roads, and road surfaces covered with gravel to allow vehicles to enter and exit for material transport under all weather conditions.

c- Warehouses for disaster prevention reserve materials must be equipped with firefighting equipment such as foam extinguishers, sand buckets, water buckets, ladders, hooks, etc. Flammable materials must not be stored in the warehouse or nearby.

2- Funding for the construction, repair, and upgrading of disaster prevention reserve material warehouses in provinces and cities according to technical standards set out in this Regulation will be allocated in the annual dike maintenance plan of each locality.

Article 9:Material storage areas.

Material storage areas used for storing disaster prevention materials that can withstand rain and sun exposure such as boulders, gravel, pebbles, sand, etc., must be raised to ensure they do not flood during the rainy season and floods; they must have convenient traffic routes for vehicle access to collect materials in all situations but do not necessarily need to be located close to the dike foot.

Large weight materials (such as boulders) must not be stacked on the dike top, culvert top, or revetment top to ensure the safety of the structure.

Materials must not be placed in the river-side storage area to prevent flooding, bank collapse, being swept away by floods, or being buried by sediment.

Article 10:Storage of flood control reserve materials.

1\. Types of materials such as bags, filter cloth, steel cages, and steel wire must be stored in warehouses meeting the technical requirements specified in Article 8 and must be stacked at least 0.50 meters above the warehouse floor, not placed against walls to prevent moisture damage (for bags and filter cloth, preventive measures against pest damage are required. Bags should be bundled into units of 500 pieces each; regular inspections should be conducted, and if dampness or wetness is detected, they should be immediately dried). Anti-rust measures should be taken for steel cages and steel wire.

2\. Materials must be neatly arranged to facilitate inspection and ease of entry and exit. Registers and diagrams for tracking and using flood control reserve materials in warehouses should be established. When materials are dispatched for dike rescue operations, the principle of first-in-first-out should be followed.

3\. Types of materials stored outdoors such as riprap, gravel, yellow sand, pebbles, etc., when concentrated in warehouse lines must be arranged according to the following regulations: 

- Riprap: stacked in block shapes; depending on terrain conditions and for convenience in handling, each pile of riprap should not exceed a height of 1.0 to 1.20 meters. 

- Gravel, pebbles, sand: contained in tanks with surrounding walls to prevent erosion during rain. Gravel, sand, and pebbles can be stored in warehouse lines, but it is best to concentrate them near dike management teams for easier management and protection.

4\. Regular inspections must be conducted to promptly identify and address any damage or loss, especially for materials stored outdoors.

Article 11:Inventory of flood control reserve materials.

1\. Each year, the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development must direct relevant levels and sectors to organize two inventory checks of flood control reserve materials (before and after the flood season):

- The first check: before the flood season to clearly understand the quantity and quality of existing flood control reserve materials.

- The second check: at the end of the year according to the general regulations of the state to determine the specific quantities of materials used during the flood season, damaged or lost materials, and report to the competent authority for supplementary planning.

2\. Annual settlement procedures must be completed according to the Accounting and Statistics Ordinance; inventory and settlement data must be compiled and reported in writing to the province or city, and simultaneously reported to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and the Ministry of Finance.

3\. Inventory reports must be submitted in the first week of April each year.

4\. Funds for conducting inventories are allocated from the annual financial resources for flood prevention and control of provinces and cities.

Chapter III
USE OF FLOOD CONTROL RESERVE MATERIALS

Article 12:Use of flood control reserve materials.

Flood control reserve materials may only be used for addressing emergencies involving dike, embankment, and sluice damage during the flood and typhoon seasons, and managed in accordance with this Regulation and related technical procedures; they shall not be used for any other purpose except for the rotation of flood control reserve materials due to storage preservation requirements, which must be decided by the competent authority.

Article 13:Authority to mobilize flood control reserve materials in normal, urgent, and extremely urgent situations.

1\. Flood control reserve materials funded by central government sources may only be used (dispatched from warehouses) upon orders from the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development or the Chairman of the People's Committee of the province or city, with the agreement of the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development.

2\. The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development has the authority to issue orders to mobilize flood control reserve materials funded by central government sources nationwide to address emergency repairs of dike, embankment, and sluice damage during the flood and typhoon seasons in all cases.

3\. The Chairman of the People's Committee of a centrally administered province or city has the authority to issue orders to dispatch state-owned flood control reserve materials within their jurisdiction for dike rescue operations in urgent situations, but must subsequently report to the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development.

4\. The Chairman of the District, County, or City People's Committee is permitted to issue orders to dispatch flood control reserve materials from centrally funded warehouses located in their jurisdiction for immediate response actions, including dike rescue operations for other areas in cases of extremely urgent special requests with the risk of dike breaches that cannot wait for central or provincial orders, while immediately reporting to the province or city for issuance of provincial or city warehouse dispatch orders in accordance with Articles 12 and 13.

Article 14:Exporting and importing disaster relief reserve materials at warehouses and storage areas.

1\. The team leader of the dike management team and the warehouse manager may only export materials upon receiving mobilization orders as stipulated in Article 13 of this Regulation.

2\. The person issuing the mobilization order for disaster relief reserve materials shall be responsible for organizing the return to the warehouse of all types of disaster relief reserve materials that have not been used or have not been fully utilized after their removal from the warehouse, either back to the place where they were originally exported or to another warehouse as decided by the competent authority.

3\. For dike lines at level 4 and below which are not regularly maintained with central government funding, when there is a risk of an incident, disaster relief reserve materials funded by local sources should be used. In cases of extreme urgency, materials can be borrowed from the central government-funded disaster relief reserve material warehouse for emergency response purposes, and must be immediately repurchased and returned after floods or typhoons to ensure compliance with the reserve quantities prescribed by the state; for each specific case, the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, the Chairman of the People's Committee of provinces and centrally governed cities, and the Chairman of district and county People's Committees shall consider and decide according to Article 14 of this regulation.

Chapter IV
RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE WAREHOUSE MANAGER AND AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL

Article 15:Monitoring the status of disaster relief reserve materials.

1\. The Department of Flood and Dike Management (Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development) shall monitor and keep track of the quantity of each type of disaster relief reserve material in each province and centrally governed city, including the initial amount at the beginning of the year, the amount purchased during the year, and the end-of-year inventory, based on annual inventories conducted by the provinces and cities, to determine discrepancies and take appropriate measures.

2\. The Department of Agriculture and Rural Development shall direct the dike management team or the assigned unit managing the materials to maintain records for each warehouse and each location, including schematic diagrams of the locations and quantities of each type of material, to facilitate mobilization plans when necessary, and to record import, export, and periodic inventory activities in accordance with national regulations.

3\. Each warehouse must maintain a record of materials within it; every time materials are imported or exported, valid documentation must be provided according to current regulations. Upon receipt of an authorized mobilization order for disaster relief reserve materials, the warehouse manager must issue an export document with signatures from responsible personnel and record the export in the logbook. At the end of the flood season, the dike management team or the assigned unit managing the materials must provide complete invoices and documentation to the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development for consolidation and reporting to the province or city and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, and the Ministry of Finance; simultaneously, a plan must be prepared to request replenishment of the materials used for early emergency response during floods and typhoons.

Article 16:Responsibilities of the warehouse manager.

The warehouse manager is directly responsible for the tasks of importing, exporting, inspecting, monitoring, and preserving disaster relief reserve materials. The dike management team must assign a staff member within its establishment to serve as the warehouse manager for disaster relief reserve materials.

Article 17:Responsibilities for managing warehouses and storage areas for disaster relief reserve materials.

1\. Organizations and individuals entrusted with managing warehouses for disaster relief reserve materials are responsible for managing, preserving, and using these materials in accordance with regulations. If materials are lost or damaged beyond permissible limits due to negligence during management, preservation, or use, administrative penalties or criminal liability may be pursued depending on the severity of the violation.

2\. The warehouse manager may only export disaster relief materials upon receiving a valid mobilization order for disaster relief reserve materials; they must not export materials upon receiving an invalid mobilization order and must immediately report to the superior management authority for guidance on how to proceed. 

Article 18:Responsibilities of the authorized person for mobilization.

The authorized person under Article 13 of this regulation may issue orders to release disaster relief reserve materials. If they issue orders beyond their authority or if the released disaster relief reserve materials are used for purposes other than intended, they shall be subject to administrative sanctions or criminal liability depending on the severity of the violation.

Chapter V
REWARD AND VIOLATION HANDLING

Article 19:Organizations and individuals who have achievements in managing and using disaster relief reserve materials shall be rewarded according to current regulations.

Article 20:Any organization or individual causing damage, loss, or improper storage and use of disaster relief reserve materials contrary to regulations shall be subject to administrative fines or criminal liability as provided by law, depending on the nature and degree of the violation.

Chapter VI
IMPLEMENTING PROVISIONS

Article 21:All previous provisions that conflict with this regulation are hereby abolished.