A meeting aimed to discuss the allocation of funding from the State reserve fund to provide urgent support for projects hit by landslides and disasters in the northern, central and Central Highlands regions was held in Hanoi on October 23.

Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Nguyen Hoang Hiep said since the beginning of this year, heavy rains, floods, landslides, and coastal erosion have left 149 people dead and missing and 118 others injured. The natural calamities have also collapsed 888 houses, blown the roofs off 14,278 others, inundated over 147,000ha of rice and vegetables, and broken down more than 100km of embankments.

The total damage is estimated at over 6.8 trillion VND, excluding losses due to floods in the central region.

The total funding allocated by the Government is 6 trillion VND, and the remaining nearly 1 trillion VND will be kept in reserve for the rest of this year, as natural disasters are expected to remain complex and unpredictable, Hiep said./.VNA