VGP – Viet Nam lost a total of VND 74 trillion to natural disasters in the 2008-2012 period, up over VND19.3 trillion from the previous five years.

Property losses caused by natural calamities averagely accounted for 1.48% of GDP per year. The figure was 2.47% in 2009 and 0.94% in 2011.

The loss of lives has dropped sharply over the past years. However, material costs from natural disasters were on the rise, said a member of the National Committee on Natural Disaster Prevention.

On 16 March, leaders of Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD), World Bank (WB) in Vietnam and the Ben Tre Provincial People's Committee have made a survey on prevention of climate change in Ben Tre province. Ms. Victoria Kwakwa, Director of World Bank in Vietnam said, after the survey with the delegates of Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and Ben Tre Provincial People's Committee, she had seen the achievements as well as challenges of the province in the fight against climate change and promised to support for this work.

The State Bank of Vietnam and the World Bank on 22 February signed a credit agreement to support the implementation of Vietnam’s National Target Program (NTP) for Water Supply and Sanitation.

According to the World Bank, the credit is expected to provide safe and clean water for 1.7 million people, and improve environment sanitation for 650,000 people in 8 Red River Delta provinces in the period 2012-2016.

This is the method that was proposed by Dr. Nguyen Viet Sky, Head of Department of Geology and Petroleum Engineering, University of Technology, Ho Chi Minh city. Accordingly, the rainwater from the roof would be collected into a tank and gradually penetrates into the wells, adding groundwater and alleviate water runoff during rainfalls.

In 2013, Vietnam plots teaching disaster prevention for schools. This activity is part of the project named "Bringing knowledge, skills on prevention and mitigation of natural disasters to schools in 2011 – 2020 period."

The project focuses on the contents to bring the knowledge of prevention and mitigation of natural disasters to education and training at all levels in the national education system.

The figures was presented in a worshop on "policy, solutions in response to climate change and promoting the protection of natural resources and the environment," held by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment. According to the Ministry, for recent 15 years natural disasters such as floods, landslides and droughts have left 10,711 people or missing and property damage is estimated at 1.5% of GDP / year.

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Japan – Vietnam develops landslide risk assessment technology Thứ tư, ngày 09 tháng 01 năm 2013 cập nhật lúc 05:39

Central provinces are facing unusual dry conditions with scant rain during peak rainy season, a strange phenomenon that has not occurred in the last 30 years, which now is affecting local residents who suffer from bad crops and severe water shortage.

The last few months should have been the rainy season but the weather has remained dry and scorching in the central region. Several rice fields along Highway 14B from Hoa Vang to Dai Loc Districts in Quang Nam Province are now completely parched.

Several localities in the central and southern regions may face serious water shortages this year.
The National Centre for Hydro - Meteorological Forecasting (NCHMF) said that this rainy season was unusually dry and ended two weeks earlier than usual.

Le Thanh Hai, Director of the NCHMF, said apart from Thanh Hoa and Nghe An provinces, the monthly measurements of rainfall this year has sharply decreased in many other provinces in the central region. October and November, normally the most rainy months of the season, precipitation has been down by 70-90%.