World Meteorological Day 2015 to be observed in Vietnam

Vietnam will hold a meeting in Vinh city in the central province of Nghe An on March 23 as part of activities for World Meteorological Day, announced the Department of Hydrometeorology and Climate Change.

A series of activities will be held across localities to mark the event, the department revealed.

This year, World Meteorological Day will be themed “Climate Knowledge for Climate Action.”

According to Secretary-General of the World Meteorological Organisation Michel Jarraud, the theme could not be more relevant as the world moves towards ambitious decisions and actions to address climate change.

Information on weather and climate, given its variability and change, is so embedded in daily life from daily weather forecasts to seasonal climate predictions that it can be easy to forget the amount of observation, research, computing and analysis that lies behind weather and climate information products, he said.

The knowledge on climate garnered over the last decade is an invaluable resource and a prerequisite for decision-making and climate action, stated Jarraud in a message to participating countries on the occasion of World Meteorological Day 2015.

Climate knowledge must be presented in an easily understood and useable format, he held.

He also called on all WMO members, governments and the civil society to share and apply climate knowledge to contribute to strong climate action, minimize climate risks and foster sustainable development.

Can Tho strives to mobilise 714,000 USD for poor patients

A conference was opened on March 10 to designate the plans and duties of the Mekong Delta city of Can Tho’s Sponsorial Association For Poor Patients.

Addressing the event, Chairwoman of the Association Nguyen Thi Cam Hong said the organisation intends to mobilise 15 billion VND (714,000 USD) for the Sponsorial Fund for Poor Patients in a bid to improve patients’ living conditions.

Accordingly, the association will coordinate with communication agencies to raise fund for poor patients and continue implementing charity programmes.

According to Deputy Chairwoman of the Association Pham Thi Ngoc Anh, the association spent nearly 30 billion VND (1.43 million USD) in 2014 on humanitarian activities, such as free eye operations for 2,578 patients, free heart surgeries for 31 patients, donation of 208 wheelchairs, and free medical check-ups for 23,678 patients.

The association also built three rural bridges worth 360 million VND (17,000 USD) and provided hundreds of scholarships to impoverished students.

Hanoi responds to National Labour Safety Week

A campaign was launched in Hanoi by the municipal Confederation of Labour (HCL) on March 11 in response to the 17th annual National Week on Occupational Health and Safety – Fire and Explosion Prevention from March 15-21.

The municipal confederation called for collaboration among its chapters, local authorities and businesses to organise practical activities to protect worker interests and apply advanced technology to create safe working conditions.

It also urged stakeholders to enhance campaign implementation monitoring and supervision while encouraging rule-abiding behaviours among workers to minimise risks of occupational accidents and diseases.

In 2014, as many as 132 industrial accidents occurred in Hanoi, killing 34 people and injuring four. The deadly accidents occurred mainly in construction and electricity.

The city also recorded 166 fires and explosions across the city, claiming 18 lives and leaving 16 injured, causing estimated conomic loss of 200 billion VND (9.3 million USD).

India Research Centre offered assistance

Indian Ambassador to Vietnam Preeti Saran visited and gave 100,000 USD in funding from the Indian government to the India Research Centre at the Ho Chi Minh National Academy of Politics and Public Administration (HCMA) in Hanoi on March 10.

The Ambassador spoke highly of the centre’s consistent development, saying that she will mobilise Indian agencies to assist the centre’s operation.

HCMA Director Ta Ngoc Tan sincerely thanked the Indian government and people for their valuable assistance in supporting the activities of the centre.

He said that the grant will allow the centre to sow an important seed in future research collaboration between India and Vietnam.

The Indian Research Centre was inaugurated in September 2014 by Vietnamese President Truong Tan Sang and Indian President Pranab Mukherjee.

Central Highlands Lam Dong boosts rural growth

The Central Highlands province of Lam Dong province mobilised more than 22 trillion VND (1.03 billion USD) to develop local new-style rural communities within 2009 – 2014.

A major part, approximately 96 percent of the raised capital, is sourced from bank credits, some 11 percent from the State budget, and 2.5 percent from the locals’ donation, among others.

In 2015, Lam Dong targets 43 communes meeting required new-style rural standards.

To realise the goal, it has prioritised upgrading infrastructure, improving and restructuring the agricultural sector which can bring higher income for local residents.

Adequate financial investment and community support have led to positive outcomes in the programme, as evidenced by the granting of the recognition to 25 communes as by February, 2015.

The provincial plan for the 2016 – 2020 period is to have 99 out of its 117 communes and 6 of its 10 districts accomplished the 19 new rural development criteria.

The national new-style rural area programme was launched by the Government in 2010, with criteria covering building infrastructure, improving production capacity, constructing public works, protecting landscapes and the environment, and promoting local traditions and cultural identities, among others.

The Prime Minister has set tasks for the Central Committee for the National New Style Rural Area Building Programme to achieve 20 percent of the total communes nationwide (or 1,800) recognised as modern rural areas in 2015.

Quang Ngai celebrates 70th anniversary of Ba To uprising

The central province of Quang Ngai held a ceremony on March 11 to mark the 70th anniversary of the Ba To uprising which contributed significantly to the victory of the August Revolution in 1945.

Speaking at the event, Le Viet Chu, Vice Secretary of the provincial Party Committee and Chairman of the People’s Committee, reviewed the revolutionary tradition of the armed forces and people and guerrillas in Quang Ngai’s Ba To district.

The success of the Ba To uprising led to the first revolutionary regime in Quang Ngai and the Ba To guerrillas played a key role in forming the revolutionary armed forces in the central region and the Vietnam People’s Army, he added.

He went on to say that over the past seven decades, thanks to joint efforts by local authorities and the community, Ba To has made great strides in development and defence and security.

Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc congratulated locals on their socio-economic achievements and suggested they exert additional efforts to increase growth quality and economic competitiveness.

The locality should allocate more resources to developing agriculture and building new-style rural areas in line with poverty reduction in mountainous districts, he said, as well as increasing the focus on maritime economic development.

On the occasion, Ba To district was awarded the Independence Order, third class.

World Glaucoma Week 2015 opens in Hanoi

The National Institute of Ophthalmology under the Ministry of Health held a meeting in response to World Glaucoma Week 2015 in Hanoi on March 10.

The event aims to raise public awareness on early glaucoma detection and treatment as the key to preventing optic nerve damage and vision loss.

Glaucoma is a leading cause of blindness in the world, especially among the elderly.

World Glaucoma Week is a joint global initiative of the World Glaucoma Association and the World Glaucoma Patients Association to raise awareness of the disease.

The term glaucoma includes a group of eye diseases causing optic nerve damage.

The optic nerve carries images from the retina, or the specialised light sensing tissue, to the brain to be translated as sight. In glaucoma, eye pressure damages the delicate nerve fibers of the optic nerve. When a significant number of nerve fibers are damaged, blind spots develop in the field of vision, ultimately progressing to permanent loss of sight.

Most don't notice these blind areas until much of the optic nerve damage has already occurred. Blindness results from entire nerve decay.

There were as many as 60.5 million patients with glaucoma worldwide in 2010, and scientists estimate the number will increase to 79.6 million by 2020.

Over three million Vietnamese have lost their sight in one eye, 6.6 percent of which caused by glaucoma.

Danang launches UN Rapid Planning project

The central city of Danang commenced the Rapid Planning project of the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat) during its first working mission on March 10.

Danang has been selected as one of cities, along with Kigali (Rwanda), Assiut (Egypt), under the Rapid Planning project that will continue through 2019. Meanwhile, Frankfurt, the German project city will share its experiences with other case cities, and will also impart a trans-sectoral approach that is not yet part of the city's urban planning activity.

According to project's research team, the Rapid Planning project will last 11 days and end on March 20.

After the workshop related to the project was started in Danang, head of the research team, Dieter Steinbach said Danang was chosen under the project because of its dynamic development and commitment to the city's administration on environment and co-operation.

Steinbach said the city releases 674 tonnes of rubbish daily, of which 93% is from households, and it needs a garbage classification and treatment system in the living quarters.

The research work will be based on practical experiences of the case cities that will be directly put into action.

Together with UN-Habitat, the implementation of the Rapid Planning approach into practice and the transferability of solutions to other city environments will also be tested.

The city will see a facelift as it becomes a green city following the Prime Minister's decision regarding the city's adjusted master urban plan for 2030 and 2050.

It will build a 100-ha solid clean technology waste processing plant at Khanh Son for dumping and treating 2,000 tonnes of waste per day.

In 2012, Danang was selected as an APEC city among 20 low-carbon model cities using energy-efficient technologies.

Harnessing the carbon in climate change

Experts from Japan held an urban development seminar addressing the use of ecological and carbon footprint analysis in regional policy making on March 11 in the township of Ecopark, Van Giang district, Hung Yen province.

At the seminar, speakers said the number of municipalities in Vietnam is expected to increase from 774 to 850 this year and to an estimated 10,000 by 2025, which poses significant environmental problems related to increased carbon emissions.

They outlined both Vietnam’s and Japan’s strategies for effectively coping with climate change as a result of urban sprawl and discussed new technologies pertaining to carbon footprint analysis, solar energy, LED lighting and waste water treatment.

In recent years, Vietnam and Japan have cooperated well in protecting the environment and coping with climate change they said adding that Japan has also been one of the leading supporters of Vietnam in dealing with climate change issues.

The seminar also offered an opportunity for municipalities to apply for funding from the Japanese Government in order to install advanced technologies reducing carbon emissions and enhance competitiveness of businesses.

Residing in apartments in Ho Chi Minh City means living with disputes, many apartment residents have moaned.

This has been confirmed after local authorities have summed up as many as 16 kinds of disputes between residents and apartment investors in recent years.

As a result, the People’s Committee of Ho Chi Minh City will conduct a comprehensive inspection at all 1,244 apartment buildings in the city from now till June, said Do Phi Hung, vice director of the Department of Construction and head of the inspection program.

This marks the first time the city is organizing such a check.

The 16 disputes recognized by authorities include the misuse of common areas in apartments, the cost of management and operation of facilities, the cost of maintenance, safety for fire prevention, construction quality, the issuance of certificates of apartment ownership, public security, and sales contracts.

The city will also have a chance to correct loopholes in laws and regulations concerning the construction and management of apartments for better enforcement in the future, Hung said.

At the Bau Cat 2 apartment building in Tan Binh District, families living on the ground floor turn their private living space into cafeterias that run from the morning till midnight.

They play loud music that constantly disturbs others living on upper floors.

“Clients of the cafeterias and restaurants on the ground floor use the public restrooms of our apartments and we have to pay the cost of water and electricity for that,” said a resident named Thu.

The trouble at the Nguyen Chi Thanh apartment tenement, located at 155 Nguyen Chi Thanh Street, may be unique: the trench to contain wastewater from the toilets is open and runs through the basement used as a parking lot.

Foul odors torture residents when they enter the parking lot every day.

Le Quach Luc, a resident, pointed at the smeared walls of the trench and said, “Fluids inside this trench spill out over the floor, causing a great stink.”

The issue was reported to the Public Services Company of District 5, the developer of the apartment, but it has not been repaired.

Other problems in the city’s apartment buildings include rainwater leaking into walls and all over floors, problematic elevators, and insufficient water supply.

The Binh Chanh Construction Investment Shareholding Company (BCCI), the developer of the Nhat Lan 3 apartment building in Tan Tao A Ward of Binh Tan District, even duped its apartment residents by refusing to build parks and flower gardens on the premises as promised.

At the apartment block located at 540/1 Cach Mang Thang 8 Street in District 3, the public area for residents has been modified as the working room for the developer.

The Phu My apartment building on Hoang Quoc Viet Street in District 7 has public facilities such as a library, a parking lot, and a gym but the developer owns them, and they are not for use by residents.

Some apartments have troublesome elevators and residents said they often get clamped by the doors or stuck inside halfway up or down.

Fatal accidents have occurred when elevator users fell down to the ground upon entering an open lift with no floor inside.

By law, the owner of an apartment pays two percent of the total value of his home for maintenance within fifteen days of receiving the apartment. But some apartment investors ask residents for higher fees.

Residents of a new apartment building cannot organize a meeting to elect their management board within that period, so the maintenance fee is often collected by the apartment building developer.

The developer later tries to find reasons to delay the handover of the sum to the representatives of apartment residents. The Keangnam apartments in Hanoi are one example where this problem has occurred.

Two percent of the entire area of the Keangnam building makes up around VND200 billion (US$9.6 million).

Residents of other apartments such as The Manor, Sky City, Golden Westlake, and Golden Palace in Hanoi have encountered similar problems with their investors.

Contractor fined for illegally hiring foreign labourers

Police from this Central Highland province have fined the Construction Machinery Corporation VND30 million (US$1,400) for illegally hiring foreign labourers, Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper reported today.

The corporation is the contractor in charge of constructing the Dak Sin 1 Hydro-power Plant in Dak R'Lap District.

The police discovered that the contractor had hired five Chinese persons, who only held visitor visas in Viet Nam, as labourers, without the approval of authorised agencies.

The Chinese persons also received administrative sanctions from the police.

Five police officers sentenced to prison

The People's Court of Ninh Binh Province yesterday sentenced five former police officers to 20 months to 22 years in prison for abuse of power and embezzlement.

The five individuals worked for the Thai Nguyen Police Department.

Nguyen Viet Hoa, born in 1976, was sentenced to 22 years in prison for abuse of power.

Four other police officers received from 6 months probation to 21 months in prison.

According to court papers, at the beginning of 2012 Hoa and another accomplice were ordered to track down Tran Van Hung, who was on the run for murder and drug trafficking.

Knowing that Hung was in hiding in Ninh Binh Province, Hoa and others managed to find him, but later agreed to embezzle VND2.5 billion from Hung.

During his time in temporary detainment, Hoa also ordered his accomplices to threaten another person who denounced his act of embezzlement.

Police seizes 600 kilos frozen chicken feet

Police of the central province of Quang Binh today seized some 600 kilos of frozen chicken feet and legs being transported by a truck along the National Highway 1A in Thanh Trach Commune.

The truck driver, Nguyen Huu Cuong, failed to present legal documents to prove the origin of the frozen chicken feet and legs.

Cuong told the police that a woman who lives in Quang Tri Province's Dong Ha City had hired him to transport the meat from Thua Thien-Hue Province to Quang Binh Province for sale.

The case is under investigation.

HCMC looks to move, improve chemical shops

The People's Committee of HCM City has ordered related agencies to draft plans to relocate or upgrade shops selling inflammable chemicals to ensure they meet safety conditions.

The city authority has instructed the fire department to identify the shops that do not meet fire safety norms and recommend measures to move or improve them.

The relevant agencies have been asked to focus on crowded places like markets and high-rise buildings, on chemical manufacturing, trading and processing facilities and on shops selling chemicals and other inflammable goods.

The city administration has also instructed the police to co-ordinate with the fire brigade to improve fire safety management, ensure better control over chemical facilities and arms depots and keep safe distances between these facilities and residential areas and production facilities.

The construction and transport departments and the Sai Gon Water Supply Co. have been ordered to regulate traffic in case of fires and supply sufficient water for firefighting.

They and the fire brigade also need to inspect high-rises to advise on preventing fires and installing fire escapes in accordance with the laws.

HCM City has suffered from a number of blazes and explosions that caused extensive human and property losses. Last year it reported 301 fires and explosions in which 26 people were killed and 27 others injured.

They included an explosion at Dang Huynh Luan Co in District 12 that killed three people and injured four, and an explosion on Ly Thuong Kiet Street in District 10 that left four dead.

According to relevant agencies, the failure to abide by fire safety regulations by individuals and businesses was one of the main reasons for those accidents.

Similarly, a fire at a shop selling chemicals and equipment on Nguyen Trai Street in District 5 killed seven people and destroyed the house and goods stored in it.

The situation could have been even worse since many shops sell chemicals in residential areas, posing a constant threat of fire and explosion.

According to the HCM City Department of Industry and Trade, there are 640 facilities manufacturing or trading dangerous chemicals such as those used for industrial production and in the health sector, most of them located near Kim Bien Market in District 5.

VEF/VNA/VNS/VOV/SGT/SGGP/Dantri/VIR