The Department of Hydrometeorology received the First Class Labor Medal.

Photo caption — The Department of Hydrometeorology was awarded the First Class Labor Medal by the President .

On October 3, 1945, President Ho Chi Minh signed Decree No. 41 to bring the Department of Astronomy and Phu Lien Observatory under the Ministry of Transport and Public Works. This is considered a historical milestone that laid the foundation for the Vietnam Meteorological and Hydrological Industry.

Through many stages, with times of restructuring, merging and renaming, up to now, the Department of Hydrometeorology is a unit under the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment , managing 13 member units with more than 2,600 officers, civil servants and public employees working across the country.

During the 80-year journey, the hydrometeorological sector has accompanied the country through many difficult times, from war to reconstruction and international integration. In 1975, Vietnam officially joined the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), opening up opportunities for cooperation and affirming its international position.

In particular, in 1995 and 2020, the industry was honored to be awarded the Ho Chi Minh Medal, a noble award recognizing its great contributions to the cause of building and defending the Fatherland. In 2002, the industry was awarded the First Class Independence Medal....

During the 2021 - 2025 period, the Department of Hydrometeorology has achieved many important achievements, contributing to improving the quality of forecasting and warning work and affirming its frontline role in natural disaster prevention and control.

The monitoring network has been heavily invested in, bringing the total number of national hydrometeorological stations to more than 2,800, an increase of 44% compared to the previous period. The automation rate is increasingly high, with meteorology reaching 65%, rain and thunderstorms 100%, hydrology 69% and oceanography 74%. The modern weather radar system has covered almost the entire country, creating a rich and accurate database for forecasting...

New technology applications in hydrometeorological forecasting have contributed to increasing the forecast time for storms and tropical depressions from 24 hours to 36 hours; for many storms with stable trajectories, forecasts are made 60 - 72 hours in advance, and warnings are made 48 - 72 hours in advance of cold air waves causing severe cold.

Thanks to strong innovation, natural disaster forecasting and warning work is increasingly effective, contributing to significantly reducing human and property damage.

In 2021, thanks to the timely and early forecasting work of the Industry, it helped the Government, the Prime Minister, the National Steering Committee for Natural Disaster Prevention and Control, central and local agencies to direct decisively and effectively from an early stage, thus minimizing many damages, with human losses reduced by 54% and property losses reduced by 78% compared to the average of the past 10 years.

Or the Noru storm (Storm No. 4) in 2022 was forecasted by the Hydrometeorological Department, giving early warning of the impact of the strongest super typhoon Noru in the past 20 years in the East Sea, contributing to minimizing damage to people and property for the community and extreme heavy rains threatening the sustainable development of Vietnamese cities;

In 2024, Storm No. 3 (international name YAGI) with strong intensity, rapid, complex and unusual developments with a series of extreme values far exceeded all normal forecast scenarios of countries in the region (The storm made landfall in the Quang Ninh-Hai Phong area with strong winds of level 10-12, gusts of level 13-15, Bai Chay station at an altitude of 34m observed strong winds of level 14, gusts of level 17. This is the storm considered the strongest in the past 30 years) but was forecasted, warned early and promptly, helping localities and people to proactively respond, minimizing damage to the maximum extent possible...

The reliability of hydrometeorological forecasts and warnings is increasingly improved, with forecasts of some types of natural disasters having a reliability of 70-90%, ranking among the leading countries in Southeast Asia and gradually approaching the level of advanced countries in Asia. The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) has selected the Vietnam Hydrometeorological Agency as the Center for forecasting and supporting dangerous weather types and the Center for supporting flash flood warnings for the ASEAN region.

With its outstanding achievements, the Department of Hydrometeorology was honored to receive the First Class Labor Medal from the Party and State - a noble award recognizing the great contributions of the industry over the past 80 years.

In the context of increasingly complex global climate change and increasing extreme natural disasters, the hydrometeorological sector continues to aim for modernization, strong application of science and technology, expansion of international cooperation, and building an increasingly detailed, accurate and timely forecasting system. The overarching goal is to effectively serve the work of natural disaster prevention, protect people's lives and contribute positively to the sustainable development of the country.

The First Class Labor Medal not only recognizes the Department of Hydrometeorology for its great contributions to the country's socio-economic development, ensuring social security, humanitarian charity, and applying scientific and technical advances, but is also a source of pride and motivation for the staff, civil servants, and public employees of the Hydrometeorology sector to continue to contribute and maintain their frontline role in the cause of protecting the peaceful life of the people.

Source: https://baotintuc.vn/xa-hoi/cuc-khi-tuong-thuy-van-don-nhan-huan-chuong-lao-dong-hang-nhat-20251003094629100.htm