The Government chief praised the central agencies and local authorities in the central region for their efforts to timely mitigate impacts of the storm, particularly in evacuating people.

PM Dũng urged local authorities to continue seeking missing people, giving medical treatment to the injured, evacuating residents away from the deep-submerged areas, flash floods, and landslides, assist families heavily damaged by the storm, and mobilize all forces to help people stabilize their life.

Especially, it is necessary to assure that food, fresh water, clothes and medicines are available for people in isolated areas while quickly restoring key infrastructure works like schools, roads, and hospitals as well as ensuring environmental hygiene.

Urgent actions by specific forces

The storm-hit localities are asked to limit unexpected deaths and takes necessary measures to protect water reservoirs and dams.

The Ministries must quickly clear all traffic systems, particularly National Highway 1A, Hồ Chí Minh Highway, National Roads 14 and 24.

The Electricity of Việt Nam (EVN) must quickly repair electricity systems to make sure the power provision to the region and to key projects there, such as the Dung Quất refinery plant.

The PM required the Ministry of Industry and Trade to guarantee the sufficiency of food and building materials while tightening price control to avoid speculation.

He also ordered the Ministry of Health to send task forces to assist the central provinces to deal with health and sanitarian issues.

PM Nguyễn Tấn Dũng and all the Cabinet’s members contribute part of salaries in support of the victims of tropical storm Ketsana – Photo: VGP

Situations still complicated

According to the reports released yesterday by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Ketsana hit Quảng Nam and Quảng Ngãi with gales amounting to 11 and 12 levels, causing torrential rains in the coastal districts from Quảng Bình to Bình Định and some northern provinces of the Central Highlands.

The conditions led to increasingly high water rise in all rivers in the region, immerging and isolating many residential areas. Typically, 70% of Huế City and 66 communes in Đà Nẵng City were fully submerged.

Until 6.00 AM this morning, 38 people were killed, ten missing and 81 wounded; nearly 5,800 houses collapsed or swept away; more than 26,000 hectares of crops are under deep water.

By Hải Minh