Tropical Storms Cost Vietnam $300M Worth of Damages: Ministry

Vietnam’s state media cited the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) at a meeting on Aug 8 as saying that two tropical storms namely Mirinae and Nida have caused damages worth nearly VND7 trillion ($314 million). The typhoons hit the northern country in late July and early August, leaving 20 deaths and 82 injured people, MARD’s Deputy Minister Hoang Van Thang said at the meeting with the attendance of Deputy Prime Minister Trinh Dinh Dung. Typhoon Mirinae submerged nearly 256,000 hectares of agricultural land and collapsed more than 31,000 power poles when the storm swept the northern region on July 27-29, leaving entire Nam Dinh and many parts of Thai Binh, Ninh Binh, Ha Nam, Quang Ninh, and Haiphong paralyzed because of power outages. Damages to the electricity sector hit an estimated VND384 billion, according to the ministry. At the event, Deputy Prime Minister Trinh Dinh Dung said that huge losses were largely attributable to weather forecasting capacity. Pham Van Duc, former deputy head of the National Center for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting (NCHMF), said that the agency should have mentioned more about wind velocity because gusts would cause severe damage if it swept a locality for a while. Le Thanh Hai, deputy general director of the national center, said that the agency has learned from experience and would improve its forecasting capacity. Vietnam suffers average 10 tropical storms per year. (Sai Gon Giai Phong – Saigon Liberation Aug 9, Thoibaotaichinhvietnam.vn Aug 8)