The first two typhoons to hit Viet Nam this year have caused damage worth more than 6.7 trillion VND (297.7 million USD) in total, announced the Ministry of Agricultural and Rural Development (MARD) on August 8.

Flashflood damaged a house in Dong Tuyen commune, Lao Cai city. (Source: VNA)

Typhoons Mirinae and Nida which hit northern localities in late July and early August respectively, have left 20 people dead or missing and 82 other injuries.

Deputy Prime Minister Trinh Dinh Dung said in an online cabinet meeting on the typhoons’ damage on August 8 that the main reason for the huge losses was shortcomings in weather forecasting.

The Central Meteorological Forecast Centre (CMFC) Director Hoang Duc Cuong acknowledged that forecast reports failed to predict the exact localities hit by Typhoon Mirinae or the unusually prolonged strong winds.

“No meteorological centres in Viet Nam are able to project it (the wind pattern change) and this is a weakness of the typhoon forecasting technology,” he said.

Ninh Binh Province was one of northern localities heavily struck by Typhoon Mirinae, yet it was not included in the emergency meeting between 12 coastal localities from Quang Ninh to Nam Dinh provinces where the CMFC predicted the typhoon would hit, reported the Central Steering Committee on Disaster Prevention’s Office.

MARD Minister Nguyen Xuan Cuong said that disaster forecasting needed improvement, both in equipment as well as personnel training.

“International cooperation should also be strengthened for more reliable forecasts,” he said.

Cuong also asked for a rice seed reserve in the northern lowland region to cope with any future storms.

“As the Hong (Red) river delta is prone to storms and typhoons, we must have at least 5% of rice seeds reserved for natural disasters,” he said.

“If we follow that principle we will no longer struggle to resume production after floods recede.”

The storms flooded nearly 256,000ha of agricultural land in the affected localties, according to MARD.

The power infrastructure, meanwhile, also experienced problems during Typhoon Mirinae, Cuong said.

More than 31,000 power poles fell across affected localities in the storm, disproportionately in Nam Dinh Province with nearly 24,000 poles falling. Damages to the electricity sector were estimated at about 384 billion VND (17 million USD), according to MARD’s report.

“There must have a reason behind such mass power pole collapse. It could be the poles’ low quality or some other cause, but it is urgent to thoroughly inspect the whole power infrastructure,” Deputy PM said.

(Source: VNA/ Da Nang Today)