Storms, heavy rains, landslides and tornadoes in October caused 153 deaths and missing persons, and injured 222, reported the General Statistics Office of Vietnam.

Answering the local press on the sidelines of the National Assembly session, Minister of Natural Resources and the Environment Tran Hong Ha said the principle of his ministry is ‘not to develop small-scale hydropower at any cost’.

Annual losses to people’s well-being from natural disasters are estimated at around US$11 billion in purchasing power parity terms, according to WB’s report on Vietnam’s coastal development between opportunity and disaster risk.

VNA talks to Tran Tan Van, Director of the Vietnam Institute of Geosciences and Mineral Resources, about the serious landslides in central region that have resulted in great losses in human life and property.

Many people have died in the central region, thousands of people are living outdoors, and infrastructure has been destroyed by floods and landslides. Why does the central region suffer from disasters every year?

Hundreds of floating shelters have been used to shelter many households in flood-hit areas in the central province of Quang Binh.

Torrential rains coupled with the discharge of water from reservoirs have engulfed many areas in the central province of Ha Tinh.

At least 84 people have died and 38 others remain missing in floods and landslides which have ravaged 10 provinces in the central and central highlands region over the last few days.

Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc has sent his deepest condolences to the families and relatives of officers and soldiers, who were buried by a landslide, on their way to Rao Trang 3 Hydropower Plant on a rescue mission in Thua Thien-Hue.

Economic losses caused by natural disasters in Vietnam this year to September 27 had amounted to VND5 trillion (over $215 million), it was reported at a meeting held in the central province of Quang Binh on October 8.

Hundreds of households in a mountainous district of the central province of Quang Nam have been isolated because of landslides following flash floods.

At least one person was killed, 29 were injured and more than 1,700 houses’ roofs were blown away after Storm Noul made landfall in Quang Bình and Thua Thien-Hue provinces at around 10am on Friday morning.

Torrential rain over the past few days has triggered flash floods and landslides across northern mountainous provinces, killing six local people, according to the Central Steering Committee for Natural Disaster Prevention and Control.

Nguyen Van Dao, from the General Department of Meteorology and Hydrology talks to on the need to have a full and accurate report on saltwater intrusion  and the hydrometeorology system in the Mekong Delta.

Nguyen Xuan Cuong, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, spoke on the country’s readiness to minimise losses in the event of natural disasters.

Storm Sinlaku, the second of its kind to enter the East Sea since the beginning of this year, has caused two deaths, according to reports from the provinces at a meeting in Hanoi on August 3.

An earthquake measuring 3.6 on the Richter scale rocked Moc Chau district in the northern mountainous province of Son La at 5.31am on August 1, according to data collected by the Institute of Geophysics.

Dozens of households in An Giang Province are being threatened by erosion along the Hau River.

The fatalities in serious flooding and landslide caused by prolonged torrential rains over the past few days in the northern mountainous province of Ha Giang increased to five as of 15:00 on July 21, 

The National Centre for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting has issued flood and landslide warnings for northern mountainous provinces on Monday and Tuesday when heavy rain is set to the region.