Decision No. 172/2007/QD-TTg dated November 16, 2007 of the Prime Minister to approve the national strategy for natural disaster prevention, response and mitigation to 2020

ANNEX I

LIST OF PROGRAMS PROMULGATED AS ATTACHMENT TO THE NATIONAL STRATEGY FOR NATURAL DISASTER PREVENTION, RESPONSE AND MITIGATION TO 2020

(Promulgated as attachment to the DECISION No. 172/2007/QD-TTg on 16 November 2007 of Prime Minister)

ANNEX II

NATURAL DISASTER AND DISASTER PREVENTION, RESPONSE AND MITIGATION IN VIETNAM

(Promulgated as attachment to the DECISION No. 172/2007/QD-TTg on 16 November 2007 of he Prime Minister)

I. NATURAL DISASTER IN VIETNAM

1. General context

In recent decades, natural disasters have increasingly happened in term of severity over the world, causing serious consequences to human life, especially to the poor. Disasters are natural phenomena, however their magnitude and consequences have been exacerbated due to human activities during the process of socio-economic development, with technologies, urbanization, population boom, and natural resources and environmental degradation. In the past 2 decades, more than 200 million people on average directly suffered from the consequences of natural disasters every year.

Vietnam is located in the tropical monsoon area, one of the five storm-prone areas of the Asia Pacific region. Therefore the country often faces natural disasters of various types. In recent years, disasters have continually occurred all over the country, causing vast losses in human life, property, socio-economic and cultural infrastructure as well as environmental degradation. In the recent decade (1997-2006), natural disasters such as typhoons, floods and droughts have caused significant losses, including 7500 missing and dead people, and asset damage equivalent to 1.5% of GDP. Natural disasters in Vietnam have been increasingly severe in terms of magnitude, frequency and volatility.

2. Geographical and socio-economic background of Vietnam

a. Geographical location and topography

The territory of Vietnam stretches across 15 north latitude degrees (from 8o30’ to 23o20’) and 7 east longitude degrees (from 102 o 10’ to 109 o 20’), bordering China in the North, Laos and Cambodia in the West, and facing the East Sea in the East and the South.

With the total territory area of 329,241 km2 and a coastal line of 3,260 km, every 100 km2 of land has 1 km of coastline averagely. Its width is about 600 km at the widest part and 50 km at the narrowest point.

Viet Nam has a relatively diverse topography. The country’s territory is made up of mountains, highlands, deltas, rivers, coastline, islands and peninsulas. Hills and mountains cover 3/4 of land area. Mountain ranges tend to have North-West to South-East direction and perpendicular to the direction of the North East - South West tropical monsoon. Parallel mountains separate the country and make up North West – South East direction rivers. Most of rivers flow into the East Sea. High, steep and separated mountains scattered all over the country, and blended with dense river networks.

Plains account for ¼ of the territorial area, consisting of the Red River delta, the central coastal plains, the Southeast plains and the Mekong River delta.

The territory is divided into seven economic and sub-climate zones, namely the Northern Mountains, the Red River Delta, the North Central Coast, the South Central Coast, the Central Highlands, the Eastern South and the Mekong River delta.

With the above mentioned features, Vietnam frequently suffers from storms, floods, and other types of natural disasters.

b. Soil conditions and vegetation cover

The North region has the most complicated geological structure compared with other regions in the country. One third of the northern mountains consist of rock with a thin weathered layer, which is infertile and poorly water-absorption. Black soil is often distributed in calcareous areas which are rich in calcium and magnesium. Mountains and hills occupy 80% of the regional land area. The forest coverage in this region is lowest in the country. The northern mountains and highlands still have much bare land and hills. Alluvial land area in the Red River delta only accounts for 14% of the total area of the North. The ancient alluvial soil in this region is often characterized by the yellow and brown color, small amount of clay, poor in water absorption, and prone to drought and erosion.

The North Central Coast has a large proportion of mountains and hills, small and narrow plains with unfertile soil and limited alluvial land area. The most common types of soil in this region are light yellow soil in high mountains, red soil, brown-red soil, yellow-red soil, depleted grey soil, erosion prone soil. The forest coverage in the region is 28%. Bare land and hills account for 3.4% of the natural land area.

The South Central Coast has a complex and diverse geological structure with various types of soil including alluvial soil, coastal sandy soil, and exhausted soil, etc. The forest coverage is relatively high (34.5%).

The geological structure in the Central Highlands is made of 2 covering layers: a soft covering layer and a weathered layer. Alluvial soil in the region only accounts for 2.8% of the natural land area, black soil accounts for 1.86%, and depleted grey soil 10%. The yellow red soil accounts for a large proportion of 68.2%. The forest coverage in the region is considerably high at about 60%.

The Eastern South has a relatively similar geological structure as the Central Highlands with two major types of soil, namely grey soil and red soil. The forest coverage is about 19.5%.

The Mekong river delta has a homogenously geological structure. Alluvial soil makes up 31.4% of the natural land area, acid soil 41.1%, saline soil 19.1% and grey soil 3.5%...

In general, the geological structure in Vietnam is relatively stable with many high mountain ranges scattered in every regions; the territory is separated by dense river systems. Earthquake occurs in the Western North region though it is at low frequency and magnitude. Additionally, high and steep mountain ranges make the region very vulnerable to landslides and flash floods.

c). Climate

There is a great difference in temperatures amongst regions, seasons and between day and night in each region. The North has 4 distinct seasons, whereas the South has only the dry season and rainy season, and the Central is affected by the South West monsoon.

Evaporation is relatively high and different amongst the regions, of those the South East and the Mekong River Delta have the highest evaporating level.

Humidity is also high and fluctuated between the regions and seasons. The South is often less humid than other regions in the country.

Rainfall: Vietnam is located at the edge of South East Asia where is bordered by the Pacific and the Indian Oceans. It is also influenced by various continental and ocean air blocks. Therefore, the rainfall is high but fluctuated and varied throughout the country. The average annual rainfall is approximately 2,000 mm. The Middle Central Part of VN is often observing the highest average annual rainfall, while the South Central Part has the lowest rainfall.

1.2.4. Hydrology

As its territory is separated by mountain ranges, Vietnam has dense river networks. There are 2,360 rivers of 10 km and above length. 13 river systems have the basin area of 3000 km2 and above, in which 9 river systems have the basin area of more than 10,000 km2, namely Mekong river, Red river, Ca river, Ma river, Thai Binh river, Dong Nai river, Ba river, Bang Giang – Ky Cung river and Thu Bon river.

The catchments area of Vietnam river systems is 1.167 million km2, of which 835,000 km2 outside its territory (71.5%). The average flow is 835 billion m3 for years, of which 313 billion m3 (37.5%) is originated in Vietnam territory

1.2.5. Socio-economic conditions

Rapid population growth and urbanization have caused serious pressure, causing the natural resources and environment degraded. The total population in the country has reached more than 85 million people now. In the near future, the population of Vietnam will be about 100 million people (as reported at APEC 2006). The rapid population growth in the areas of potential productiveness has led to land shortages, for both residential and cultivation purposes. The human being has encroached the river channels, river estuaries, coastline, river and stream sides; exploited natural resources and minerals in an uncontrollable manner, as well as cut down and burnt forests, and increased the amount of wastes.… These are the factors that constraint the water flow, impoverish the land, silt reservoirs, cause landslides in the mountainous and hilly areas, as well as mud and rock floods. As a result, natural disaster risks have risen.

The average economic growth was beyond 7%/year in the 1990s and will be even higher in the next 2 decades. If there is no integration of natural disaster prevention, response and mitigation in the development process, this growth may cause more environmental pollution and break the ecological balance, resulting in increased disaster risks and an unsustainable development.

3. Typical natural disasters in Vietnam

a. Typhoon

Vietnam is located in the northwest of the Pacific Ocean, one of the storm-prone areas with a vast and violent number typhoons and an increasing trend especially in the recent 3 decades. Typhoon is one of the major and dangerous types of natural disasters in Vietnam. In more than 50 years (1954-2006), there were totally 380 typhoons and tropical depressions in Vietnam, of which 31% hit the North, 36% to the Northern Central and Middle Central Part and 33% to the South Central and the South. Typhoon’s landfalls usually accompany with high tide and heavy rain, thus resulting in heavy and long rains and floods. It is estimated that up to 80-90% of the Vietnam’s population are affected by typhoons.

b. Floods

Floods in Northern river systems

The basin areas of the Red River-Thai Binh River are 164,300 km2, in which 87,400 km2 are on the territory of Vietnam, crossing 23 provinces and cities and accounting for 75.7% of the natural land area of the North.

Flood season in the Red river and Thai Binh river system normally occurs from May to September, earlier than that in other regions. On average, there are about 3 to 5 floods within the region annually, each of them may last from 8 to 15 days, depending on its scale and strength. Major floods in the Red river are often generated from 3 rivers of Da, Thao and Lo, of which the Da River plays a decisive role contributing 37%-69% of the flood flow in Son Tay (49.2% on average), while the Lo river contributes 17%-41.5% (28% on average) and the Thao river contributes the lowest proportion – 13%-30% (19% on average). Floods in the Thai Binh River are often generated from 3 rivers of Cau, Thuong and Luc Nam and partly from the Red river through the Duong river.

Flood amplitude is high on the Red river system, above 10m in Hanoi. Whereas that of the Thai Binh river is above 6m in Pha Lai.

Floods on rivers in the Central

The flood season on the rivers from Thanh Hoa to Ha Tinh is from June to October every year. Floods on these rivers generally occur on main streams thanks to the dyke systems preventing the overflow. Flood amplitude is above 7m on the Ma river system and above 9m on the Ca river system.

On the rivers from Quang Binh to Binh Thuan, the flood season is from September to December. This region is characterized by short and steep river systems with rapid flows. Dyke systems in this region are relatively low or uncompleted. Therefore, floods not only occur on the mainstreams but also spread across the floodplains with the amplitude of above 8m.

Floods on rivers in the Central Highlands

There is no major river system in the region, and annual precipitation is low. The influenced area of floods in this region is narrow and characterized by mountainous and flash floods. Flood amplitude at Dabla bridge on the Dabla river is 10m.

Floods in the Eastern South rivers

Since rainfall is not very high plus a thick and diverse vegetation cover forests, floods in the Dong Nai river are not strong but long-lasting. Nevertheless, historical floods were seen such as in October 1952, the flood discharge crest in Bien Hoa was 12,500 m3/s.

Floods in the Mekong River Delta

The flooding level in the Mekong river delta is generated from upstream floods and also directly influenced by tides and water reserving capacity of Tonle Sap. The progress of floods in the Mekong river delta is slow and floods last for a long period of 4 to 5 months annually, causing inundation in almost areas of the Mekong river delta.

c) Flash floods and mud floods

Flash and mud floods are often found in mountainous and hilly areas where are characterized by steep slopes, heavy rains and disadvantaged drainage conditions. Flash floods also may occur due to the failures of small reservoirs or landslides blocking up flows, etc. Flash floods have occurred and threatened in all 33 mountainous provinces of the 4 regions, namely the Northern Mountains, the Central, the Central Highlands and the Eastern South of VN. Due to climate changes in recent years, flash floods have become more frequent in Vietnam with 2 to 4 flash floods on average happen every year during the flood season. In many cases, flash floods happen frequently at a same location. The occurrence of flash floods is usually sudden and within a small area, but very severe and often causes tremendous human and asset losses. Some typical flash floods are the one happened in Son La town on 27 July 1991, in Muong Lay and Lai Chau in 1994, in Ha Tinh on 20 September 2002, in Yen Bai in 2005, etc. Currently flash floods are unpredictable but can be proactively prevented by zoning high risk areas and establishing warning systems.

d) Inundation

Inundation in Vietnam is usually caused by heavy rains and it last for long time in some areas. Although resulting in limited human loss, it causes remarkably negative impacts on agricultural production and the ecological environment.

dd) Droughts and desertification

Drought is a common type of disaster in Vietnam, which causes the 3rd greatest losses, following typhoons and floods. In recent years, drought continuously happens throughout the country. In some particular years, droughts reduced 20-30% of the food productivity, thus severely threatening people’s livelihoods and daily life. Drought control is difficult due to water shortage and depleted upstream reservoirs. Prolonged droughts result in desertification risks in several regions, especially the South Central, sandy coastal areas and slope lands in the highlands and mountain areas.

e) Salinity intrusion

The coastline of Vietnam is 3,260 km long with many river estuaries, therefore salinity intrusion is found along the entire coastline at different rates. Three zones at higher risks of salinity intrusion are the South West coastal provinces, Central coastal provinces and the downstream part of the Dong Nai River. The South West coastal region is the most severely affected by salinity intrusion with 1.77 million ha of salinity land, accounting for 45% of the total area. Salinity intrusion prevention and fresh water reservation in this area are usually very costly.

g) Whirlwind and cyclone

Whirlwind is a phenomenon of accidental strong wind within a narrow extent generated by extremely strong developing thunderclouds. A whirlwind may have sudden change of direction, and the wind velocity is from Grade 8 or more. Accompanying whirlwinds are usually showers, or even hails in some cases.

Cyclone, also called tornado is a whirlwind in a narrow area but has a very powerful strength (equivalent to a strong windstorm), formed by a strong and specially structured thundercloud. A thundercloud may form two or three tornado at the same time, which are then combined into a cyclone. A cyclone often goes with showers, rainstorm or hails with dusts and sand …

Both whirlwind and cyclone are violent types of natural disaster. They happen suddenly and are not yet forecasted, therefore they cause vast and unpredictable consequences but that of cyclone is considerably more serious. Whirlwinds are often accompanied by strong winds that pull down trees and houses, destroy communication and power systems, as well as sink small boats and ships … Cyclones, due to stronger winds, high velocity and frequent directional changes, often cause violent damages. Whirlwinds and cyclones are common phenomena in Vietnam, and their frequency has increased in recent years.

h). Landslide and erosion

Landslide is a common type of disasters in Vietnam, consisting of river bank erosion, coastline erosion, and landslides on mountain slopes, land subsidence, etc. Landslides are usually caused by external factors (water), internal factors (geological changes) and human activities (unplanned mineral exploitation or construction), etc.

River bank erosion is very common throughout the country. It causes remarkable losses of residential and cultivated land area and destroys many villages along riverbanks.

Coastline erosion happens due to waves, tides, seawater rise and sea currents. Coastline erosion has led to sea intrusion, causing lost land and destroyed environment, etc.

Landslides in hill and mountain slopes are usually caused by heavily concentrated rains combining with weak geological structure and human impacts like mountain destruction for roads, forest destruction, etc. Landslides often come with mud floods and cause serious damage to the human life and assets.

i). Earthquake and tsunami

Earthquake is the phenomenon of ground surface vibration, caused by the sudden movements of geological blocks in the earth’s womb, volcanic eruptions, landslides, cave collapses, etc. Earthquakes have happened in Vietnam though in a limited strength.

Tsunami is the phenomenon of long circle ocean waves at a high-propagated speed. When reaching the coastline, depending on the depth of the sea and the topography of the coastal area, these waves can be tens of meters high and travel deeply into the land, causing vast catastrophes. Tsunami is the result of earthquakes in the ocean bed. Though tsunami has not yet happened in Vietnam, many coastal areas of Vietnam may be affected by tsunami due to earthquake potentials in some neighboring countries.

k) Sea surge

Sea surge is the phenomenon of annual average of sea level in recent years higher than the multi-year average of sea level, resulted from the effects of global climate change.

4. Consequences of natural disasters to socio-economic development

a) Socio-economic consequences

Natural disaster in Vietnam is the direct impediment to the economic development, sustainable development and poverty reduction; the huge obstacle to the process of striving for the Millennium Development Goals.. Vietnam has more than 80% of its population living at risk of direct impacts of natural disasters.

Natural disaster has taken away many achievements of the national socio- economic development. In the last 5 years (2002-2006), natural disaster has killed 1,700 people and caused losses of estimated VND75,000 billion of assess.

Natural disaster intensifies the division in residents’ living standard; hinders and lowers the hunger eradication and poverty alleviation, especially in areas frequently at risk of disaster. On average, millions of people are in need of assistance due to natural disasters every year. Many of them, who have just escaped from poverty, are re- impoverished due to the disasters.

Natural disaster affects educational development, destroys educational infrastructure and interrupts school time, especially in mountainous areas and the Mekong River Delta.

Natural disaster also causes negative impacts on vulnerable groups such as the old, the disabled, women, and children.

b) Environmental consequences

- Natural disaster destroys, degrades and pollutes environment and negatively affects production and community’s life.

- Consequences of natural disaster result in water pollution, disease generation.

c) Consequences of natural disasters to national defence and public security

- Destroy constructions for defence and security

- Reduce the national reserve

- Cause social instability

- Cause chaotic in social security and order

II. NATURAL DISASTER PREVENTION, RESPONSE AND MITIGATION IN VIETNAM

Throughout the course of development, natural disaster prevention, response and mitigation in Vietnam have always been considered as a struggle for life and closely linked with the founding and defence of the country. Disaster prevention, respond and mitigation in Vietnam have made great progress throughout the history.

1. Course of development

Since last thousands of years, Vietnamese ancestors have seen natural disasters as one of the “4 biggest dangers to mankind”: water (floods), fire, robbers, and invaders.

Dyke constructions for flood prevention were implemented many centuries ago.

By 1248, the Red river dyke system had formed. At present, the system of river and sea dykes of the nation is thousands of kilometres long.

No sooner had the Democratic Republic of Vietnam been established than President Ho Chi Minh signed Order No. 70/SL on 22 May 1946 to establish a Central Committee for Dyke Maintenance, the predecessor of the current Central Committee for Flood and Storm Control.

During the period of 1945-1954, Vietnamese people had both to fight against invaders and to prepare for and respond to natural disasters. Northern provinces built nearly 7 million m3 of dykes to strengthen critical dyke sections.

During the period of 1955-1975, flood and storm control got new further development step with the establishment of the Ministry of Water Resources, the promulgation of the Regulation on Dyke Protection and many other directives and resolutions in order to improve the capacity of flood and storm control... In this period, Northern provinces built millions of cubic meters of dykes, hundred thousands of cubic meters of stone embankments; built flood retarding zones, renovated flood diversion systems, and planted trees for wave resistance.... During this period, the North suffered many heavy floods that broke dykes in some areas. However, production and social stability were soon restored thanks to prompt recovery activities.

During the period of 1976-present, flood and storm prevention and response have been regarded as one of the particular important measures for socio-economic development. The State has promulgated these following legal documents: the Ordinance on Dykes (1989) and Ordinance on Flood and Storm Control (1993), amendments to these two ordinances (2000), the Strategy for Water Disasters (1994), the Law on Dykes (2006) and decrees to guide the implementation of these laws and ordinances. Policies on natural disaster prevention, response and mitigation have been promulgated such as policies for the ‘living with floods’ areas (Mekong River Delta), flood diversion and retarding areas (Northern region) and “avoidance and adaptation” areas (Central region). Many structural solutions have been carried out such as reservoir building, dyke upgrading, boat and ship shelter building, etc. Non-structural solutions have included forest rehabilitation, communication systems renovation, forecast, warning, international cooperation, community awareness raising, step-by- step consolidation of organizational mechanism for flood, storm control and search and rescue...

2. Achievements and limitations

a) Remarkable achievements

- Step-by-step accomplish legal documents; create a legal corridor for natural disaster prevention, response and mitigation. In recent years, Vietnam has developed and promulgated relevant legal documents, such as Law on Dyke, Water Resources Law, Law on Forest Protection and Development, Law on Environment Protection, Land Law, Law on Natural Resources and Minerals, Law on Fisheries, etc., Ordinance

on Flood and Storm Control, Ordinance on Exploitation and Protection of Water Resources Structures, Ordinance on Exploitation and Protection of Hydro- meteorological Structures, etc. Promulgate decrees to guide the implementation of laws and ordinances.

- Step-by-step strengthen the organizational mechanism; enhance the capacities, equipment and physical infrastructures for the direction of flood and storm control, natural disaster mitigation as well as search and rescue activities from the central to local levels.

- Develop and implement socio-economic development programs related to flood and storm control and natural disaster mitigation such as Plantation of upstream forests, protective forests, mangrove forests program; reservoirs for flood drainage and drought resistance program; “living with floods” program, safety for fishing boats and ships program, dyke reinforcement and renovation program, etc.

- Research and apply science and technology for flood and storm control as well as natural disaster prevention, response and mitigation, such as:

+ Research on prevention and control of river bank and coastline erosion;

+ Research on extreme flood preparedness for the Red River Delta;

+ Research on 12 types of natural disasters;

+ Research on the establishment of self-help financial funds;

+ Models of safe-in-disaster houses;

+ Methodology for damage and disaster relief assessment;

+ Research on flood zoning in Central provinces;

+ Research on flash flood prevention planning;

+ Apply new technologies to disaster forecast, warning and management;

+ Apply new materials and technologies to construction of several disaster prevention and mitigation structures.

- International cooperation

+ Participate in international and regional organizations for natural disaster mitigation, for example Asian Disaster Reduction Center (ADRC), Asian Disaster Preparedness Center (ADPC), ASEAN Committee on Disaster Management (ACDM), World Meteorological Organization (WMO), Typhoon Committee (TC), Natural Disaster Mitigation Partnership (NDM-P), International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (ISDR), etc.

+Cooperate with international organizations, nations and non-government organizations in disaster mitigation such as UNDP, UNESCAP, WB, ADB, etc.,

- Search and Rescue: Establish the National Committee for Search and Rescue, strengthen the organization mechanism from central to local levels; enhance facilities and equipment for search and rescue activities; develop a master plan for search and rescue up to 2015.

- Relief and recovery activities: The State annually allocates a certain proportion of budget and reserves some essential commodities for emergency relief and prompt damage recovery. When disasters occur, political and social organizations such as the Vietnam Fatherland Front, Trade Union, Youth and Women Associations, etc. have taken the initiative to organize donation activities, supporting affected areas for quick stability. Relief and recovery efforts have also come from on-site sources, taking advantage of the mutual support tradition.

- Training, propagandizing and awareness raising: Thanks to the mass media, activities of training, propagandizing and awareness raising have been improved. Training in communities have been provided at grass-root level as well as to officers related to disaster mitigation in ministries, sectors and localities. As a result, the awareness of authorities and the residents have increased. Poor families in coastal areas have been supplied with equipment to be able to obtain information and prepare for natural disasters proactively.

- Resources for natural disaster prevention, response and mitigation

+ Every year, the government has given preference and gradually increased budget for natural disaster prevention, response and mitigation; given prior investment in specific programs and projects: The forest plantation programs, dyke upgrade programs, reservoir programs, landslide prevention programs, “living with floods” program, safety for boats and ships program.

+ Provinces have mobilized the on-site resources, taken advantage of the contributions of the people, social and political organizations, and international organizations in natural disaster prevention and damage recovery.

+ Annual Official Development Assistance (ODA) has been supplemented

b) Limitations

In recent years, we have made considerable efforts; physical and technical infrastructures for disaster preparedness have been improved; the leadership and coordination in response to natural disasters from central to local levels have made substantial progress. However, with regards to the consequences of natural disasters and the socio-economic development goals in the near future, the following shortcomings and limitations need to be addressed:

- Disaster prevention, response and mitigation activities are passive and mainly focus on addressing specific problems;

- The response to disasters is slow due to objective and subjective reasons;

- Unstable production system, inappropriate production structure;

- Infrastructure is poor and vulnerable to disaster;

- Forecast and warning systems do not meet the requirements, particularly with regards to disasters like flash floods, landslides, whirlwinds, etc;

- Emergency relief, damage recovery and rehabilitation are limited, sometimes disconcerted and lack of cooperation;

- Search and rescue activities are limited due to lack of equipments and facilities, unprofessional operations and not bringing the combined strengths of all forces and communities into full play.

c) Reasons

- Awareness

+ Inadequate awareness of natural disasters and sustainable development, especially the approach of living in harmony with the nature is insufficiently implemented;

+ Dependent and inactive attitude; disregard of and inexperience in natural disasters preparedness;

+ Disseminating, training and raising community awareness of disaster prevention, response and mitigation are infrequent and unsystematic, mostly implemented throughout the mass media and training programs of natural disaster preparedness have not been included in school curriculum.

- Planning

+ Lack of synchronous planning and short of coordination among ministries, sectors and localities. Lack of due attention to the integration of natural disaster prevention, response and mitigation into local and sector’s socio-economic development programs;

+ In construction planning, lack of due attention to safety and flood and storm avoidance, particularly in industrial zones, tourism areas, urban areas of coastal regions, mountainous areas, residential areas and transportation roads;

+ The encroachment on sea and rivers for construction or setting construction projects in areas highly prone to floods, flash floods, storms, sea surge and landslides make structures always at risks, resulting in costly for protection and maintenance;

+ Development planning has not been linked with environment and landscape protection and preservation. For example, natural sand dunes on the sea shore, upstream protective forests and mangrove forests have been destroyed for aquaculture.

- Policy and mechanism

+ Lack of penalties for failure to obey legal regulations, and the orders of relevant authorities;

+ Overlaps of functions and duties and lack of clear responsibilities;

+ Lack of policies to encourage disaster-related insurance purchases;

+ Lack of policies to encourage individuals and organizations volunteering and participating in search, rescue and response activities to natural disasters.

- Lack of regulations for organizations on the appeal, collection, receipt and distribution of disaster relief in good and cash.

- Lack of timely adjustment in policies on the mobilization of resources for disaster prevention and mitigation.

- Investment

+ Investment in natural disaster prevention, response and mitigation has been non- synchronous and not met the requirements and the given situation of disaster;

+ Investment in the maintenance, management and utilization of existing structures is not correspondent to the new construction investment;

+ Financial allocation to some critical, approved projects such as reservoirs, shelters of boats and ships, dyke system, etc. is slow and does not meet current requirements.

- Direction and management

+The directions and orders in response to natural disasters have not yet been seriously executed; the implementation is slow; dependence on leaders still exists;

+The inspectation and direction of four “on-the-spot” principles are not determinedly;

+There have been wrong directions of economic development without linking with natural disaster prevention, response and mitigation. For instance, coastal protective forests were destroyed for aquaculture while watershed protective forests were cleared for crop productions.

+ The lax management and protection of watershed forests, coastal and riverside protective forests have led to the degradation of forest coverage in some areas, restraining the effectiveness of flood, storm and drought control and causing unexpected dangers;

+ The lax management of sand exploitation on rives and other activities on river banks have resulted in harmful impacts on flood discharge and caused erosion;

+ The shortcomings of vehicle management on rivers and at sea, particularly pelagic fishing boats have resulted in damages when disasters occur;

+ The quality control in some particular structures was insufficient, hence, damaged structures even in case of low intensity disaster. Some structures have even hindered flood discharge or made flood more serious.

+ Management of implementing progress and operation of disbursement’s procedures are still slow, especially ODA;

+ The management and utilization of resources for disaster recovery are sometimes lax, lack of transparency or for inappropriate purposes.

3. Tendency of natural disaster changes and challenges

All over the world, natural disasters are forecasted to happen more regularly in terms of types and frequency, more complex in terms of developments and more serious in terms of consequences. Global warming, climate changes, El Nino, La Nina phenomena and increase of typhoon and drought, etc., occurring recently in the world and in the region, have caused direct impacts on the climate and natural disasters in Vietnam.

The territory of Vietnam extends over 15 latitudes with 3,200 km coastline and locates in the area of humid tropical monsoon, complex topography and dense river network. These leads to many different sub-climate zones, ecologies and various types of natural disasters including typhoons, floods, flash floods, droughts, landslides, etc. Affected directly by the Pacific Ocean typhoon centre, Vietnam is hit by about 6-7 typhoons and tropical depressions every year.

Moreover, on the subjective side, the rapid industrialization and modernization in the country have resulted in comprehensive development, but at the same time, led to the increase of disaster risks. Because of human’s activities with an aim at socio- economic development such as not disobeying natural norms or loosing environmental and natural resource management in combination with population pressure, it is recognized that there were inappropriate behaviors such as mountain destruction for roads, encroachment on sea and rivers, leveling hills and mountains for construction, forest destruction, etc. These resulted in increased unsafe in case of disaster and negative impact on the economic development and destroyed environment.

Obviously, natural disasters have been making vast effects on the human’s life and the sustainable development of the country.