Vietnam is facing a stormy year as the year 2013 has recorded unrelenting and unusual weather phenomena caused by climate change impacts, according to Deputy Director Le Thanh Hai of the National Center for Hydro-meteorological Forecasting. So far this year, the number of storms and tropical depressions hitting the country has hit 17, breaking the record of 16 set 49 years ago, Mr. Hai said. Each year, there is usually only one fierce storm at the 12th level (with winds speed from 118-132kph), but this year there were two, the 10th and 11th storms (Wutip and Nari) as the impacts of climate change have sharply increased the typhoons’ intensity. Storms have tended to make landfall in the southern region in recent years in stead of the central provinces as earlier, he added. Notably, super storm Haiyan, the 14th storm hitting the country this year, is forecast to hit south central region on Nov 9. The Haiyan, expected to be at the highest storm level of 17th, is the most powerful one over the past decade. On Nov 10, Haiyan will likely bring heavy rains to central coastal provinces from Thua Thien-Hue to Binh Dinh, threatening to thousands of hectares of rubber and coffee trees and hundreds of hectare of aquaculture. Earlier, Wutip and Nari storms uprooted more than 10.000ha of rubber in Quang Tri, Quang Binh and Quang Nam provinces, severely affecting livelihoods of the locals. From now till the end of 2013 and the first months of 2014, there is still the possibility of one or two natural occurrences in the East Sea that would have direct impacts on the central and southern regions. Vietnam, which is one of the ten countries most vulnerable to natural disasters, has lost 1%-1.5% of its GDP to natural disasters each year over the last 20 years. (Thanh Nien –Young People Nov 5, VietnamNet Nov 5)
