Hanoi (VNA) - Nguyen Van Tien, Deputy Chief of the Office of the Central SteeringCommittee for Natural Disaster Prevention and Control, on October 29 askedcities and provinces affected by Storm Molave to continue  following instructions on disaster response.

Speaking at ameeting in Hanoi, Tien, who is also Deputy General Director of the VietnamDisaster Management Authority, called for prompt efforts in finding the 53 residentsmissing in landslides in Nam Tra My district and two others in Phuoc Sondistrict in central Quang Nam province, along with crew members of two missingboats from the south-central province of Binh Dinh.

Localities needto keep a close watch on the storm’s development, evacuate residents from areasprone to landslides and floods, and moderate water levels at reservoirs.

Sen. Lt. Col.Tran Tuan Anh from the Border Guard High Command’s search and rescue departmentsaid units are coordinating with localities to evaluate losses caused by the recentstorms and have mobilised fishing boats to search for missing vessels.

Vehicles andsniffer dogs are ready for search and rescue operations at the landslides inNam Tra My district, he added.

Deputy PrimeMinister Trinh Dinh Dung asked the Minister of Defence to dispatch naval andfisheries surveillance ships from Cam Ranh Bay in south-central Khanh Hoaprovince to rescue the 26 missing fishermen from Binh Dinh.

According toDeputy Defence Minister Sen. Lieut. Gen. Phan Van Giang, as of 1pm on October29, fisheries surveillance forces had rescued 14 fishermen on Boat BD-98658TS -another fishing boat from Binh Dinh that issued a distress signal out at sea. Effortsare ongoing, meanwhile, to find the 26 other missing fishermen.

Defence MinisterGeneral Ngo Xuan Lich requested that forces from Military Zone 5 closelycoordinate with local authorities in search and rescue work in Nam Tra Mydistrict.

It was reported that two landslides hit the district’sTra Leng and Tra Van communes on the night of October 28, burying 53 people.The bodies of 16 of the victims have been found.

Three people were killed and eight are missing from anotherlandslide that occurred in Phuoc Loc commune in Quang Nam on the same day. Thebodies of the three victims were found on the day.

Storm Molave had killed one person in the CentralHiglands’ Dak Lak province, one in nearby Gia Lai province, and another incentral Quang Ngai province as of the morning of October 29.

According to Deputy Director of the National Centrefor Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting, Hoang Phuc Lam, torrential rains areforecast to continue battering the central region until October 31.

Another storm, Goni, which is now east of thePhilippines, is expected to enter the East Sea and trigger torrential rains aroundVietnam’s central region on November 5-6, he said./.