General Secretary and President To Lam inspects flood and storm prevention work in Phu Tho province

Photo caption — General Secretary and President To Lam speaks at a working session with the Standing Committee of Phu Tho Provincial Party Committee. Photo: Tri Dung/VNA

The delegation included: Politburo member, Party Central Committee Secretary, Chairman of the Central Committee of the Vietnam Fatherland Front Do Van Chien; Party Central Committee Secretary, Chief of the Party Central Committee Office Nguyen Duy Ngoc; Party Central Committee member, Deputy Prime Minister Le Thanh Long and leaders of a number of central departments, ministries and branches.

A quick report on the natural disaster situation and damage caused by storm No. 3 and floods in Phu Tho province at the working session of the Delegation with the Provincial Party Committee Standing Committee showed that due to the impact of storm No. 3, Phu Tho province had heavy rain from September 7 to 11, and very heavy rain in some places. Floods from upstream combined with the release of floodwaters from hydroelectric reservoirs caused the water level of rivers in the province to rise rapidly.

The Provincial Steering Committee for Natural Disaster Prevention and Search and Rescue has issued 7 documents directing flood response at hydroelectric reservoirs; 15 Flood Warning orders on Bua River, Thao River, Lo River. Distributed 10,500 bags of materials from the reserve warehouse to prevent overflow on the left and right dykes of Thao River, in Ha Hoa district; provided 3,000 m3 of waterproof tarpaulin and 1,700 Jumbo bags (size 0.5 x 0.5 x 0.6 m) to Vinh Phuc province under the direction of the Department of Dyke Management and Natural Disaster Prevention and Control...

When the Phong Chau bridge collapsed, Deputy Prime Minister Ho Duc Phoc, Vice Chairman of the National Assembly Tran Quang Phuong and leaders of Military Region 2 were present at the scene with leaders of Phu Tho province to direct the mobilization of forces and means to carry out search and rescue work, treat the injured, visit and encourage the victims: direct the implementation of immediate measures to overcome the incident and long-term solutions to ensure traffic safety.

In Phu Tho, natural disasters killed 2 people, injured 7 people and left 9 people missing. A total of 417 houses were damaged by fallen trees and roofs; 4 houses were affected by landslides (in Doan Hung district); 7,015 households had to be urgently evacuated due to flooding and landslides. Many medical, educational and cultural facilities had their roofs blown off and were damaged.

Damage to agriculture, forestry and fishery: 6,400 hectares of rice and crops were flooded and broken; 423 hectares of perennial trees, 168.5 hectares of annual crops, 327.1 hectares of fruit trees and 127 hectares of forest were broken; 2,000 hectares of aquaculture were overflowed and broken... Damage to irrigation, dykes, the left and right dykes of Thao River in Ha Hoa and Cam Khe districts were overflowed and almost overflowed, and had to be treated to prevent overflow...

Traffic damage, landslides of about 26,500 m3 of soil on traffic routes; collapse of T7 pillar and 2 spans of Phong Chau bridge on National Highway 32C...

Many state infrastructures (irrigation, dykes, transportation, electricity, schools, healthcare and other infrastructures) were damaged and many houses and properties of people in the province were damaged. However, due to the complicated development of natural disasters, many areas were deeply flooded and isolated, so there are still many damages that have not been fully counted. Preliminarily, the total value of damage up to now is estimated at over 250 billion VND (not including the damage caused by the collapse of Phong Chau bridge). Phu Tho province is continuing to direct the review, statistics and synthesis of damages.

The Provincial People's Committee has directed departments, branches, political organizations, People's Committees of districts, cities and towns to concentrate forces to support commune authorities in cleaning schools and offices, helping people clean their houses, supporting food, drinking water...; implementing disinfection and sterilization measures; and environmental sanitation in flooded areas.

At the meeting, the leaders of Phu Tho province requested the Central Government to pay attention and help invest in building a new bridge to replace the old Phong Chau bridge with a modern scale, synchronous with the scale of the current National Highway 32C; ensure traffic safety, meet the increasing traffic demand, serve the socio-economic development of the locality; consider and support investment in reinforcing and upgrading weak dyke sections and wave-breaking wall systems on the left and right dykes of Thao River; support materials, means, equipment for disaster prevention and control, search and rescue, etc.

At the meeting, the General Secretary and President emphasized that storm No. 3 is a very special storm, the storm formed in the East of the Philippines but strengthened into a super storm in the East Sea and is the strongest storm in the East Sea in the past 30 years. Storm No. 3 and its circulation have a wide range of influence from the North to Thanh Hoa; the storm circulation causes heavy rain in the North.

On behalf of the Party and State leaders, General Secretary and President To Lam expressed his deepest condolences to the families of those who lost their loved ones due to storms and floods; and expressed his sympathy and deep sharing with the difficulties and losses of the people in the areas affected by storms and floods in the area.

Praising and appreciating the results of leadership and direction in implementing measures to prevent and overcome the consequences of storm No. 3 in Phu Tho province and the military and police forces coordinating with localities to overcome the consequences of storms and floods, General Secretary and President To Lam said that the Politburo had met and directed the entire political system to focus on implementing all measures to highly concentrate on rescuing people, searching for missing people, and taking care of the funerals of the unfortunate; not letting any people lack food, clothing, shelter, or shelter, not letting students lack classes or schools, not letting sick people lack medical treatment; overcoming problems with electricity, water, and telecommunications, promptly restoring production and business and normal activities of social life; calculating damages to have timely solutions; responding to the consequences of storm circulation such as flash floods, landslides, subsidence, etc.

The Prime Minister has issued many telegrams to direct and directly command at hot spots. Party committees, authorities at all levels, and armed forces have mobilized hundreds of thousands of officers and soldiers to rescue, help people evacuate, overcome consequences, and provide relief to people. The Prime Minister, Deputy Prime Ministers, and leaders of ministries and branches have visited localities to direct and inspect flood and storm prevention and control work and visited and encouraged people in flood-hit areas.

General Secretary and President To Lam emphasized that the highest priority for all localities affected by storms and floods is to rescue people, in which the strength of the armed forces is the core. The northern provinces affected by the storm need to identify "rescuing people as the highest priority", "the strength of the armed forces is the core" to synchronously and drastically deploy all measures from prevention to rescue, relief, and relief; use all resources, equipment, and apply science and technology to search for missing people and the dead; at the same time, must absolutely ensure the safety of the forces participating in rescue, relief, and relief for people; support people to access early loans to restore production.

The Central Committee of the Vietnam Fatherland Front, ministries, branches and localities continue to mobilize agencies, organizations, businesses, individuals and the whole society to promote the tradition of patriotism, "mutual love", donate, support and provide material and spiritual assistance to families and people who are victims and affected by natural disasters; organize visits, encourage and promptly implement policies for families suffering losses.

Regarding the proposal of Phu Tho province, General Secretary and President To Lam stated that Phong Chau bridge is a vital traffic artery not only for Phu Tho but also for surrounding provinces. Therefore, the investment in the construction of the bridge must be done and completed soon, urgently surveying the design, evaluating with the locality and implementing the completion as soon as possible.

Regarding the investment in upgrading the critical wave-breaking dike section on Thao River, the General Secretary and President requested that the province research and implement projects with high resistance to storms, floods and natural disasters, ensuring safety for the people.

* On this occasion, General Secretary and President To Lam sent gifts to Phu Tho province; the Central Committee of the Vietnam Fatherland Front donated 30 billion VND to support Phu Tho province to overcome the consequences of storm No.