General Secretary and President To Lam inspects the work to overcome the consequences of storm No. 3 in Phu Tho

On September 12, General Secretary and President To Lam inspected the work to overcome the consequences of storms and floods and visited and encouraged people in flood-hit areas in Phu Tho province.

General Secretary and President To Lam witnessed Chairman of the Central Committee of the Vietnam Fatherland Front Do Van Chien presenting a plaque of support worth 30 billion VND mobilized and donated by the Central Committee of the Vietnam Fatherland Front to Phu Tho province to overcome the consequences of storm No. 3.

General Secretary and President To Lam spoke at the meeting.

Welcoming and working with the delegation were Mr. Bui Minh Chau, Member of the Central Committee of the Party, Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee, Chairman of the Provincial People’s Council, Head of the Provincial National Assembly Delegation; Bui Van Quang, Deputy Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee, Chairman of the Provincial People’s Committee; members in the Provincial Party Committee Standing Committee; leaders of the Provincial People’s Council and People’s Committee; and leaders of some departments, branches, units, and localities in the province.

General Secretary and President To Lam presented 100 gifts to the people in the province affected by storm No. 3.

On behalf of Phu Tho province, Chairman of the Provincial People’s Committee Bui Van Quang reported to General Secretary and President To Lam and the working delegation the results of leadership and direction in implementing measures to prevent, combat, and overcome the consequences of storm No. 3 in the province. Accordingly, due to the impact of storm No. 3, Phu Tho province from September 7-12 had heavy rain; some places had very heavy rain; total rainfall was generally from 200-400mm, in some places over 450mm. Floods from upstream combined with the rapid discharge of floodwaters from hydroelectric reservoirs caused the water level on rivers to rise rapidly, generally above alert levels II and III. In particular, the water level of the Thao River in Am Thuong, Ha Hoa district, peaked at +28.72m (2.72m above the III alarm level and 1.4m above the historical flood in 1971).

Mr. Do Van Chien, Politburo member, Secretary of the Party Central Committee, Chairman of the Central Committee of the Vietnam Fatherland Front, spoke at the meeting.

Mr. Le Thanh Long, Member of the Party Central Committee, Deputy Prime Minister, spoke at the meeting.

Regarding the response direction, the province mobilized the entire political system to take part, in which specific assignments were made to the members of the Provincial Party Committee Standing Committee to monitor and direct in each locality; mobilized maximum forces and means to localities to respond to storm No. 3, support people to evacuate assets, and overcome damage. In particular, the police and military forces mobilized 100% of their troops from the province to districts, communes, and residential areas. The Ministry of Public Security, the Ministry of National Defense, and Military Region 2 also actively participated in supporting human resources, materials, and equipment for flood prevention.

Mr. Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee Bui Minh Chau expressed his gratitude for the attention and encouragement of General Secretary and President To Lam to the Party Committee, government, and people of Phu Tho province.

However, due to the impact of storm No. 3 and its circulation, the Phong Chau bridge collapsed in the province; the whole province had 2 deaths, 9 injuries, and 9 missing people; over 21,000 hectares were flooded; 417 houses were damaged; 7,015 households had to be urgently evacuated due to flooding, landslides, and many damages to infrastructure, transportation, agriculture, forestry, and fisheries. Currently, Phu Tho province is focusing on overcoming the consequences of natural disasters, supporting people to stabilize their lives, and closely monitoring the development of river bank erosion to take timely response measures when incidents occur.

Chairman of the Provincial People’s Committee Bui Van Quang reported to the General Secretary, President To Lam, and the Working Group on the situation and results of leadership and direction in implementing measures to prevent, combat, and overcome the consequences of storm No. 3 in the province.

The province proposed that the Central Government pay attention, help, and soon invest in building a new bridge to replace the old Phong Chau bridge to meet the travel needs of the people, serving the local socio-economic development; support the province in investing in reinforcing and upgrading weak dyke sections and building a wave and flood barrier system on the left and right dykes of the Thao River, ensuring flood prevention and protection of important infrastructure works, including the Yen Vien-Lao Cai railway. Propose to support the province with funds to overcome the consequences of natural disasters, restore infrastructure and people’s production, and support materials, means, equipment, and facilities for disaster prevention, control, search, and rescue.

Speaking at the meeting, General Secretary and President To Lam expressed his deepest sympathy and sharing for the damage suffered by the people of Phu Tho as well as the northern provinces due to the effects of storm No. 3; he highly appreciated the proactiveness of Phu Tho province in grasping the situation, promptly giving instructions, and implementing measures to prevent, combat, and overcome the consequences of storm No. 3 in accordance with the general direction of the Politburo and the government. He also highly appreciated the spirit of urgency in overcoming natural disasters of the Party Committee, government, people, military forces, police, and militia of Phu Tho province. On behalf of the party and state leaders, he expressed his deepest condolences to the families of those who lost their loved ones and sympathized and shared with the households affected by the storm.

A view of the meeting.

Regarding the immediate key tasks, he emphasized: Regarding storm No. 3, although it was predicted early, from afar since the storm formed, the direction of movement and path of the storm, the consequences left by the storm and the storm circulation are extremely severe. Therefore, all levels, sectors, and localities need to clearly identify the highest goal of ensuring the safety of the people, preventing human losses, preventing students from going to school, and preventing sick people from being treated. It is necessary to restore electricity, water, and essential needs of the people as soon as possible. Calculate plans to deal with the next natural disaster situation.

In the coming time, the Party Committee and the government of Phu Tho province, as well as the leaders of the ministries, departments, and central branches, need to be urgent, cautious, and not subjective or negligent in overcoming the consequences of natural disasters. Assess vulnerable and high-risk locations, promptly harvest crops before the season, evacuate people, and immediately restore people’s daily activities, production, and business activities of enterprises. Have solutions to support people and enterprises to access loan sources to quickly overcome damage. Pay attention to environmental sanitation, disease prevention, and control after floods. Mobilize people to join hands to overcome the consequences of floods; organize visits and encourage families with preferential policies and families affected by floods.

With the recommendations of the province, he affirmed: Phong Chau Bridge is located on a vital traffic route not only of Phu Tho province but also of neighboring provinces, so it needs to be done soon and urgently. First of all, it is necessary, based on the flood situation, to install pontoon bridges at the appropriate time. He also agreed with the proposal to support Phu Tho province to invest in reinforcing and upgrading weak dike sections and building a wave and surge wall system on the left and right dikes of the Thao River, ensuring flood prevention and protection of important infrastructure works. The Central Government will also provide financial support to the province to overcome the consequences of natural disasters. However, the government and ministries and branches need to base their support on the damage situation of the localities to have appropriate support levels.

He hopes that Phu Tho will have no more deaths due to this flood; the province needs to urgently overcome the consequences, successfully complete the socio-economic development targets, and restore the economy.

At the meeting, under the witness of General Secretary and President To Lam, Chairman of the Central Committee of the Vietnam Fatherland Front Do Van Chien presented a plaque symbolizing the amount of 30 billion VND donated by the Central Committee of the Vietnam Fatherland Front to Phu Tho province to overcome the consequences of storm No. 3.

On this occasion, General Secretary and President To Lam also presented 100 gifts to the people in the province affected by storm No. 3.

Vinh Ha, Le Hoang, Ngoc Tung