Accordingly,natural disasters have to date caused 166 people dead and missing, down 5%year-on-year. The estimated economic damage is about 8.23 trillion VND (339.38million USD), an annual decrease of 58%. Faced with the abnormal and extremenature of the disasters, the Government, Prime Minister, national steeringcommittee have directed ministries and localities to vigorously and promptlyimplement responsive solutions.
Accordingto Hoang Phuc Lam, Deputy Director of the National Centre forHydro-Meteorological Forecasting, this year has so far seen eight storms andtropical depressions. Severe heatwaves have occurred, with temperatures in someplaces reaching up to 44.2 degrees Celsius. Heavy rains have taken place in thecentral region, with 35 provinces and cities affected by floods and landslides.
Throughoutthe year, the centre has implemented a comprehensive set of measures to enhancethe detailed level of flood and landslide warning messages, focusing onapplying new and modern technologies to determine more detailed rainfallthresholds. Notably, a real-time warning information system is being integratedinto its related forecasting./.