Volunteer to help people cope with natural disasters

The provincial Red Cross Society trains the An Thach commune (Tuy An district) shock troops to respond to natural disasters. Photo: QUOC TOAN

Frontline of disaster prevention

The local disaster prevention and control shock team is a quick response force, promptly handling the first emergency situations at the grassroots level. This force comes from the people, lives locally, understands the people and is familiar with the terrain, specifically identifies vulnerable points in the locality, so it will be more proactive in disaster prevention and control activities. In particular, the grassroots shock team has supported and deployed emergency evacuation of people in areas with flash floods, landslides, people trapped in fields, riverbanks, streams, flooded areas, cut off, isolated to safe places. This force also focuses on searching for missing people, promptly rescuing injured people, buried people, trapped people, people swept away by floods...

Tan Hoa village, Xuan Son Nam commune is the gateway and also the lowest area of ​​Dong Xuan district. During the flood season, the water rises at midnight, people herd cows, carry pots and pans to escape the flood. This area is surrounded by heavy rain, the houses along the river become islands. In 2009, the flood water came so fast and so big that many families could not react in time, but thanks to the shock force of young people in the village who came to their houses to clean up their belongings and proactively flee the flood early, no unfortunate accidents happened. Ms. Nguyen Thi Hong, a local resident, said: During the flood season, the water rises quickly in this area, from here, when herding cows to Mot mountain (a mountain in Tan Hoa village), sometimes in the middle of the road, the river water overflows up to their waists. Thanks to the shock force transporting belongings, there was no danger to people.

Mr. Bui Van Long, a member of the shock team, shared: Living with floods, being trained in knowledge of flood response and accumulating a lot of experience, my brothers and I in the shock team help people in flooded areas protect people and property.

Mr. Trinh Hoai Binh, Chairman of the Red Cross Society of Dong Xuan district, said: The shock force is considered the front line in natural disaster prevention and control work and is performing well in its tasks of preventing, responding, overcoming consequences, and restoring people's lives and production...

The shock force is considered the front line in natural disaster prevention and control work and is performing well in its tasks of prevention, response, overcoming consequences, and restoring people's lives and production...

Mr. Trinh Hoai Binh, Chairman of Dong Xuan District Red Cross Society

An Thach Commune (Tuy An District) is an area near the sea and rivers, heavily affected by storms and floods. The authorities have trained people to reinforce their houses to protect their property and people in storm and flood areas. Mr. Phan Van Tan in An Thach Commune said: Living in a flood-prone area, the water rises at night, thanks to the training, I have proactively avoided serious damage. The youth volunteer force in the village supports the elderly living alone in low-lying areas, moving property and people to safe high ground.

According to Ms. Nguyen Thi Hong Nhut, Vice President of Tuy An District Red Cross Society, natural disasters are developing abnormally and tending to be more extreme, many places in the area have suffered from many dangerous natural disasters such as storms, tropical depressions, heavy rains, floods, flash floods, landslides, and tornadoes. To minimize the damage caused by natural disasters, in addition to the efforts of professional forces, the commune-level disaster prevention and control shock force plays a key role in implementing prevention at the grassroots level.

Replicating the grassroots shock team model

According to statistics from the Provincial Red Cross Society, last year, the Red Cross societies of districts, towns and cities coordinated with organizations, individuals, businesses, philanthropists and donors to organize communication on disaster prevention, rescue and assistance for 7,157 poor and vulnerable people, with a total value of over 1.9 billion VND. This activity supported people in difficult circumstances in flood-hit areas to build "3 hard" houses (hard foundation, hard frame, hard roof). Along with that, when storms and floods occurred, this force supported repairing damaged houses, building temporary houses, and quickly stabilizing the lives of people affected by natural disasters. It can be said that thanks to the effective activities of grassroots shock troops, damage caused by natural disasters has been significantly reduced.

Mr. Nguyen Huu Suu, Vice Chairman of the Provincial Red Cross Society, said: In 2025, the Provincial Red Cross Society will continue to effectively carry out propaganda work among cadres, members and people on natural disaster prevention and control, in order to help people proactively respond to complex weather situations. Along with that, the local Red Cross societies will replicate the model of shock troops to support early action against heat waves and storms and floods; build a model of a safe community, with specific actions within the framework of actions to respond to climate change of the Vietnam Red Cross Society , period 2023-2027.

According to Mr. Suu, the disaster prevention and control shock team has the task of supporting authorities at all levels to evacuate people, search and rescue, and provide first aid on the spot right from the beginning when a natural disaster occurs, helping people repair their houses, clean up the environment, restore production and stabilize their lives... From the training knowledge, people have voluntarily reinforced their houses, helped community members evacuate people and property when there is a flood warning on the rivers... Therefore, localities have minimized damage to people and property, promptly overcome the consequences of natural disasters, and quickly stabilized the lives of people in affected areas...

However, currently, the disaster prevention and control shock force at the commune and village levels in the area is enthusiastic but not strong. Explaining this, localities said that the current shock force at the grassroots level is mostly of working age, often working far from the locality. On the other hand, this force has not been equipped with means to serve rescue and relief work, which more or less reduces its capacity and makes it difficult to mobilize enough forces.

Source: https://baophuyen.vn/xa-hoi/202505/xung-kich-giup-dan-ung-pho-thien-tai-32a1ff3/