vietnamnews.vnagency.com.vn  

Govt mulls emergency measures to fight spate of natural disasters

HA NOI — The authorities are taking urgent steps to fight the drought, salination and forest fires that are threatening crops and land in the central and southern half of the country.

A prolonged drought and consequent salination have wreaked havoc in the Cuu Long (Mekong) River Delta and on the south coast, and forest fires are plaguing the south-western and Tay Nguyen (Central Highlands) regions.

At an ad-hoc meeting in HCM City last Friday, Agriculture and Rural Development Minister Le Huy Ngo called for joint efforts from all localities and economic sectors to step up the struggle against natural disasters and assist people in the worst-hit regions.

A report from the Water Resource Management Department said severe drought had ravaged some south-eastern and Cuu Long Delta provinces since January.

The drought has taken a heavy toll on more than 28,000ha of the spring-summer rice crop.

Around 3,500 households in Binh Phuoc Province and another 14,120 families in Ben Tre Province’s Ba Tri and Gong Trom districts do not have enough water for their daily needs.

Localities with large and medium-sized water reservoirs – such as Dau Tieng (Tay Ninh Province) and Song May, Da Ton and Nui Le (Dong Nai Province) – had been spared from the drought’s worst effects, the report said.

Another paper delivered by the Forest Management Department at the HCM City meeting said 42 forest fires had broken out in the southern provinces of Dong Nai, Ba Ria-Vung Tau, Kien Giang and Ca Mau.

More than 1,850ha of forest had been burnt, adding to the drought’s devastating effect on thousands of hectares of newly-planted forest.

The long dry spell has also prevented farmers from desalinating coastal rice fields.

Salt water has infiltrated deeply into vast crop areas in the southern coastal provinces of Long An, Ben Tre, Vinh Long, Soc Trang, Can Tho, Ca Mau and Kien Giang.

Fresh water for daily life and crop cultivation is an imperative need across the whole region.

The meeting workshopped measures to ensure water resources were rationally regulated and managed to meet the demand of households and producers.

Ngo stressed the need to make local people, especially ethnic groups, more aware of their roles and responsibilities in the fight against forest fires, particularly in the dry season.

This included long-term measures to help them end slash-and-burn farming and settle into a sedentary life.

Forest rangers will be reinforced with more trained personnel and urgently needed machinery and equipment, Ngo said.

The rangers will be asked to ensure round-the-clock preparedness to prevent forest fires and curb their spread.

The worst bushfire is in the Upper U Minh National Forest Reserve in the south-western province of Kien Giang, where more than 8,000ha of cajeput bushes are at risk.

The fire, the worst in a decade, was caused by some villagers’ outlawed practice of setting fire to bee hives to tap the honey, coupled with the combustible nature of the forest after a long drought.

A burn-off may create a line of defence against the fire, and fire fighters and local people are doing all they can to contain and extinguish the blaze.

Five working teams from the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs (MoLISA) have been sent on fact-finding missions to disaster-stricken regions.

MoLISA has asked the Government to grant emergency aid to drought victims.

Some VND38.1 billion has been earmarked for the purchase of rice, medicines and other necessary commodities for the poorest families, especially ethnic people.

Aid donations will be made to Kon Tum, Gia Lai, Dac Lac and Lam Dong provinces in the Central Highlands, and also to the south and central coast provinces of Quang Nam, Quang Ngai, Phu Yen, Binh Dinh, Ninh Thuan, Binh Thuan, Dong Nai, Bac Lieu, Ca Mau and Kien Giang. — VNS