Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc chairs national conference on disaster prevention and control

The event is also attended by Deputy PM Trinh DinhDung, head of the national committee for incident, disaster response, and search and rescue; Nguyen Xuan Cuong, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, and head of the central steering committee on disaster prevention and control; leaders of some ministries, sectors and localities; representatives from international organizations; and experts and scientists.

The conference aims to discuss comprehensive measures in order to deal with urgent and long-term issues, aiming to mitigate the loss of human lives and property caused by natural disasters.

According to the central steering committee on disaster prevention and control, over the past two decades, natural calamities have accounted for 400 dead and missing people, and caused damage worth approximately 1-1.5% of GDP on average annually. Especially, 2017 saw a record number of storms (16 typhoons and four tropical low depressions) forming and operating in the East Sea, killing 386 people and causing a total economic damage of VND60 trillion (US$2.64 billion).

Despite the severe and abnormal developments of disasters, the human life and property losses have been reduced considerably thanks to the drastic, flexible and timely directions delivered by the Government, the PM, and all levels, in addition to the people’s proactivity in overcoming difficulties and the engagement of the whole political system.

Today’s national conference will review comprehensively and profoundly the situation of disasters in Viet Nam; the reality of prevention, control and response work and the handling of consequences; point out the existing shortcomings; and propose comprehensive measures to deal with the urgent and long-term issues in the time ahead.