According to Vu Xuan Thanh, deputy head of the Department of Natural Disaster Prevention and Control under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, communications will be strengthened among the community and governments in risky areas to enhance their knowledge and skills in natural disaster prevention and response.
A number of measures have been implemented to minimise loss of human lives and property due to the disasters, including installing early warning systems in high-risk areas, building landslides maps and planting warning signs, said Thanh.
He noted that national disaster response drills have been held annually, while documents guiding local households to prepare for natural disasters have been delivered.
In the last 20 years, 300 flash floods and landslides have ravaged northern mountainous localities with increasing heavy losses.
Notably, a flood in Nam Lay stream in Lai Chau in June, 1990 left 82 people dead or missing. Eleven people died and went missing in another one in September 2013 in Sa Pa district of Lao Cai, while flood and landslides in Lao Cai in February 2016 also killed 15 people.
