Vietnam's northern and north-central provinces have been asked to marshal all forces to facilitate a swift recovery from the floods earlier this month that caused nearly VND8 trillion (US$472 million) in losses.
"We have to mobilize all necessary resources to stabilize residents' lives and resume production," Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Sinh Hung told an online forum on the issue Friday, which was attended by relevant authorities and officials from 18 cities and provinces.
Hung instructed concerned ministries to continue working on sending relief, preventing diseases, providing housing to affected residents, and resuming schools, hospitals and agricultural production.
He also instructed ministry and provincial officials to improve water drainage and irrigating systems and adapt production methods in line with possible disaster conditions.
The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development Friday reported that floods, up till Wednesday, have damaged 30,000 hectares of rice paddies, 210,000 hectares of other crops, 10,000 hectares of fruits and 40,000 hectares of fisheries, with 200,000 livestock having been swept away.
Thousands of houses are still under water and infrastructure has been seriously damaged in many areas, the ministry reported, adding that continued flooding would cause more losses with the winter cultivating season only 15 days away.
In Hanoi, 18,000 hectares were still inundated, including 26 residential areas with 8,700 households, with some areas still under 1.2 meter of water, Vice Chairman of the municipal People's Committee Trinh Duy Hung said. The city is projected to spend VND800 billion ($47.2 million) total for relief efforts.
Many other provinces in the Red River Delta also reported that floods have seriously damaged water drainage systems and thousands of households were facing starvation.
Some provinces have requested the government to supply three months worth of rice, estimated to be around 8,400 tons, to feed households in flooded areas. The bill for recovery works is estimated to be some VND1.45 trillion ($85.6 million).
The session Friday also discussed renovating the drainage systems around the Red River Delta.
The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has said VND2.49 trillion ($146.9 million) is needed to construct replacement and additional water drainage systems in the delta over the next two years.
Thai - Son.