I. DISASTER UPDATES

1. Heavy rain news in Central and Central Highlands

From now to October 21 in Central Vietnam continues to have heavy to very heavy rains, especially Ha Tinh, Quang Binh, Quang Tri have the possibility of particularly heavy rain. Total rainfall from October 18 to October 21 in Ha Tinh, Quang Binh and Quang Tri is commonly 400-600mm, in some places over 700mm; In Nghe An, Thua Thien Hue, the popular is 200-350mm, in some places over 400mm; in Da Nang, Quang Nam, popular rainfall is 150-250mm, some places are over 300mm; Popular rainfall of 80-150mm from Quang Ngai to Phu Yen, some places over 150mm.

After October 21, in the provinces of Central region, South Central region, there is a possibility of prolonged heavy rain.

Disaster risk level: Level 2.

    2. Tropical depression in the East Sea

On October 18, the Gulf of Tonkin and North East Sea (including the waters of Hoang Sa archipelago) had strong Northeast winds of 6-7, gust level 9; strong seas. The northern sea area from Quang Tri to Quang Ngai has strong northeast wind level 6, gust level 8; rough seas. The waves in the Gulf of Tonkin and the sea area from Quang Tri to Quang Ngai are 2.0-4.0m high; in the North East Sea is 3.0-4.0m high.

In the South of Tonkin Gulf, the East Sea (including the waters of the Paracel Islands and the waters of the Spratly Islands), strong thunderstorms occur in the water of the provinces from Quang Tri to Ca Mau, Ca Mau to Kien Giang and the Gulf of Thailand. During a thunderstorm, there is a possibility of tornadoes and strong winds.

Disaster risk level: Level 1.

    3. Rainfall updates.

- From 7pm of October 15 to 7pm of October 17: The areas of the provinces from Ha Tinh to Quang Nam continue to have moderate to heavy rain with the common rainfall was from 250-400mm, some stations have rainfall greater than 400mm such as: Ky Thuong (Ha Tinh) 518mm, Dau Lieu (Tinh) 468mm, Lam Thuy (Binh district) 556mm, Dong Tam (Binh district) 475mm, Huong Linh (Tri district) 1,049mm, Khe Sanh (Tri district) 666mm, Dong Nghe Lake (D. Nang) 484mm, Khe Tre (TT.Hue) 604mm, A Luoi (TT.Hue) 554mm

- From 7pm of October 16 to 7pm of October 17: Central region, the Central Highlands continue to have moderate to heavy rain, the common rainfall was from 100-200mm, especially in Quang Tri there is extreme heavy rain on the 17 OCtober 2020. Some stations  have high rainfall such as: Huong Linh (Quang Tri) 764mm, Khe Sanh (Quang Tri) 582mm, A Luoi (TT. Hue) 392mm, Lam Thuy (Quang Binh) 356mm, Khe Tre (TT. Hue) 348mm, Ky Thuong (Ha Tinh) 341mm, Dong Tam (Quang Binh) 298mm.

- Night rain from 7 pm October 17 to 6am of October 18: Central region, the Central Highlands continue to have moderate to heavy rain, the common rainfall in Ha Tinh, Quang Binh, Qua1ng Tri was from 50-100mm, some stations have heavy rain such as: Bac Son (Ha Tinh) 228mm, Thach Xuan (Ha Tinh) 197mm, Lam Thuy (Quang Binh) 165mm, Tan Hoa (Quang Binh) 128mm, Huong Linh (Quang Tri) 229mm; Linh Thuong (Quang Tri) 174mm

3. Flood situation

River floods tend to increase rapidly, the water level at 5:00 p.m. on October 18 on some rivers is as follows:

- The Thach Han River in Thach Han is 7.39m above alert level III, 1.39m, higher than the peak of flood in 1999 (7.29m)

- The Hieu River at Dong Ha is 5.32m, 1.32m above alert level III

- Kien Giang river in Le Thuy: 3.64m, 0.94m above alert level III

- Bo river in Phu Oc: 4.28m; 0.22m below alert level III;

- Huong river in Kim Long: 2.74m; 0.76m below alert level III.

- Vu Gia river in Ai Nghia: 8.37m; 2 0.37m below alert level II.

Forecast: In the next 6 hours, flood will occur on Hieu river in Dong Ha with peak at 5.5m; 1.5m above alert level III; flood on Thach Han river in Thach Han may rise to 7.6m, 1.6m above alert level III, then descends. During the next 6-12 hours, floods on Ngan Sau river, rivers in Quang Binh continue to rise; the rivers from Quang Tri to Quang Nam gradually descend.

4. Flooding and people evacuation situation

As of 5pm on October 18, 2020; 52,933 households that were flooded and at risk of landslide were evacuated, out of a total of 8,337 households had evacuated (Quang Binh: 125 households; Quang Tri: 8,212 households). The water in other localities has withdrawn, people have returned home.

II. RESERVOIR SITUATION

1. Inter reservoir in the Red River basin

Son La, Hoa Binh, Tuyen Quang, Thac Ba resevoirs have closed all discharge gates.

Huong river basin: The resevoirs are basically full of water, currently discharging back the flood water level. Parameters at 4am of October 18:

Vu Gia - Thu Bon river basin: Large reservoirs are basically filled with water and are discharging. Parameters at 5am on October 18:

  4. Ca river basin: Ban Ve, Khe Bo reservoirs reached over 85% of the designed capacity. Parameters at 5am on October 16:

Continue to monitor, proactively operate according to the process.

5. Ma river basin : The reservoirs reached 68-80% of the design capacity. Parameters at 5am on October 16:

III. DISASTER RESPONSE AND RECOVERY LEADERSIP AND DIRECTIONS

   1. At Central level

- Standing Secretariat issued Telegram on October 16, 2020 on strengthening the prevention and control of natural disasters, overcoming the consequences of rain and flood in the Central provinces.

- Deputy Prime Minister – Chairman of the Central Steering Committee for Natural Disaster Prevention and Control issued the Telegram No. 27/CĐ-TWPCTT on focusing on responding to floods.

- The National Committee for Natural Disaster Response and Search and Rescue issued Telegram 512/CĐ-UB at 1pm on October 16, 2020 on the rescue and overcoming of landslide consequences in Sub-zone 67 and Rao Trang 3 hydropower plant.

- The Central Steering Committee for Natural Disaster Prevention and Control issued Official Letter No. 154/TWPCTT dated October 17, 2020 to the Department of Telecommunications - Ministry of Information and Communications on warning messages to subscribers in flooded areas, landslides, flash floods.

- The Standing Office of the Central Steering Committee for Natural Disaster Prevention and Control issued Official Letter No. 447/VPTT and 448/VPTT dated October 17 to the Department of Telecommunications - Ministry of Information and Communications on the emergency text message to people in the area of ​​Quang Tri province.

- The Standing Office of the Central Steering Committee for Natural Disaster Prevention and Control regularly keeps online contact with the provinces of Quang Binh, Quang Tri, and Thua Thien Hue; updates warning information about the rain and flood, warns the community on facebook, Website.

- The Standing Office of Central Steering Committee for Natural Disaster Prevention and Control appoints staff to coordinate and support directly at the Standing Office of the Commanding Committee for Natural Disaster Prevention and Control of Quang Binh, Quang Tri, and Thua Thien Hue provinces.

- Ministry of Defense continues to direct Military Region 4 and military units to maintain forces and means at the scene to coordinate with other forces in organizing the search for missing people.

- Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development issued Decision No. 4073/QĐ-BNN-PCTT dated October 17, 2020 on receiving and distributing emergency support goods to Thua Thien Hue and Quang Tri provinces from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and the ASEAN Coordinating Centre for Humanitarian Assistance on disaster management (AHA Centre)

- Ministry of Information and Communications directs telecom service companies to organize emergency text messages to 5.5 million subscribers in areas affected by rain and flood; 50,000 messages on Zalo; 95,595 facebook accounts have accessed the information; 1,248 shares, 12,262 people interacting on facebook (the number of interactions continues to increase).

2. At local level

- Organizing the implementation of Telegrams of the Prime Minister and Telegram of the Central Steering Committee for Natural Disaster Prevention and Control. In which the following should be focused on:

+ Continue to organize search and rescue

+ Organize the evacuation and support for people in flooded areas.

+ Operate the reservoirs

+ Guide, ensure traffic safety.

- The Central provinces continue to focus on directing search and rescue work, overcoming consequences of rain and flood.

IV. SEARCH AND RESCUE

On October 17, 2020, heavy rain and flood continued on a large scale, the rescue forces halted the work of leveling and clearing the way to Rao Trang 3 hydropower plant. The search plan on October 18 is focusing on accelerating leveling, clearing the way to Rao Trang 3 hydropower plant, looking for missing workers.

V. DAMAGE BY NATURAL DISASTER

1. Damage caused by rain and flood in the Central region from October 6

a) Regarding people:

+ Dead: 64 people (an increase of 04 people compared to the report on October 16), specifically: Quang Binh 02, Quang Tri 17 (an increase of 1 person), Thua Thien Hue 25 (an increase of 3 people), Quang Nam 11, Da Nang 03, Quang Ngai 01, Gia Lai 01, Dak Lak 01, Lam Dong 01, Kon Tum 02.

+ Missing: 05 people (an increase of 01 person compared to the report on October 16), including: Nghe An 01 (an increase of 01 person), Quang Tri 02, Da Nang 01, Gia Lai 01.

(In addition, Thua Thien Hue updated the situation of workers in Rao Trang 3: 02 dead and 15 missing)

According to initial information, in Huong Hoa, Quang Tri, 2 landslides incidents happened (the case of 6-person household collapsed and the case of landslide at Economic group 337, Military Zone 4). The locality is currently verifying the information. Presently, Quang Tri province has sent a delegation led by the Provincial Vice Chairman to approach the landslide area.

b) Regarding housing:

- 52,933 houses were flooded (Quang Tri: 41,878 houses; Quang Binh: 11,055).

- 24,734 houses were damaged, collapsed.

c) Regarding traffic:12 national highways, 17,409m of local roads had landslide and got damaged (in the provinces of Quang Binh, Quang Tri, Thua Thien Hue, Quang Nam, Quang Ngai).

d) Regarding agriculture:924 ha of rice, 430 ha of rice seedlings, 106,616 ha of crops were flooded, buried, damaged; 470 ha of forest trees, 462 ha of fruit trees, 450 tons of seedlings and 46,562 tons of seeds were damaged; 3,889 ha of aquatic products were damaged; 461,627 cattle and poultry died and were swept away.

2. Damage caused by Storm no. 7’s circulation

- Regarding people: 02 people died (Hoa Binh); 01 person was missing (Yen Bai).

- Regarding housing: 51 houses were affected, damaged.

- Regarding agriculture: 357 ha of rice were damaged.

- Regarding dike incident: 06 incidents in Nam Dinh.

VI. NEXT STEPS

Expeditiously implement the Official Telegram of the Standing Secretariat to ensure practicality and efficiency; continue implementing the Telegrams of the Prime Minister, Deputy Prime Minister – Chairman of the Central Steering Committee for Natural Disaster Prevention and Control, in which focusing on implementing the following contents:

1. The localities continue to seriously implement the direction of the Prime Minister in the Telegrams: No. 1372/CĐ-TTg dated October 8, 2020 on focusing on responding to heavy rain and flood in the Central provinces. and Telegram No. 27/CĐ-TWPCTT dated October 17, 2020 of the Deputy Prime Minister – Chairman of the Central Steering Committee for Natural Disaster Prevention and Control on focusing on responding to floods.
2. Continue to carry out search and rescue work; organize visits to encourage and timely support for families with dead or missing people; treat injured people; provide food, environmental sanitation, housing, and clean water for the affected people; ensure medical examination and treatment for people in flooded areas; quickly overcome the consequences of rain and flood, restore production.
3. Strengthen the communication on the complicated developments of the flood and rain situation; guide people to actively take measures to ensure safety, especially in deeply flooded areas and even people in areas where floods have withdrawn, avoid subjective mentality.
4. Direct and organize the supervision and operation of irrigation and hydropower reservoirs to ensure safety of works and downstream, reserve their capacity for the next flood, especially for reservoirs at Huong river basin.
5. Continue to synthesize and assess flood damage and the need for urgent assistance; review and handle according to the competence or report to the Prime Minister for consideration of support decisions on food, medicines, water treatment chemicals, disinfection, environmental treatment and search and rescue supplies and equipment.
6. Maintain a serious 24/24 hour on duty, regularly report to the Central Committee for Natural Disaster Prevention and Control and the National Committee for Incident, Natural Disaster Response & Search and Rescue./.