Hanoi (VNA) - Thesettlement of the consequences of the recent storms and flooding in the centralregion was high on the agenda at the Government’s monthly meeting on October30, during which Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc demanded that efforts tocompensate local residents for their losses be redoubled.

The PM, Deputy PMs, and otherGovernment members observed a minute’s silence in honour of the cadres,officers, soldiers, and civilians who lost their lives in the natural disasters.

PM Phuc stressed that storms and floods arecommon in October, but consecutive storms and floods this year caused huge lossesof life and property, with 230 people having died, including cadres andofficers of the armed forces while performing their duties, while manycivilians are still missing at sea or in landslides.

He lauded efforts of the Central SteeringCommittee for Natural Disaster Prevention and Control along with police andmilitary forces in locating and saving people in distress, in particular theongoing search for landslide victims in mountainous areas in central Quang Namprovince and the Rao Trang 3 hydropower plant in nearby Thua Thien-Hueprovince.

The Government offered its sympathies to the people of the central region andthe families of officers and soldiers lost, the PM said, noting that thegovernment has taken various drastic measures to save people, evacuateresidents, and minimise damage, particularly in the face of Storm Molave, whichhit the region on October 28.

More than 1.3 million people were moved to safer places in anticipation of StormMolave.

The PM said the greater the hardships, thestronger the mutual support is, highlighting that people nationwide have joinedhands to aid the central region and address the consequences of naturaldisasters.

Minister of Agriculture and Rural DevelopmentNguyen Xuan Cuong reported that, over the course of about two days, more than90,000 military and police personnel and local forces from six centralprovinces were deployed to respond to Storm Molave.

However, he noted, as it was so strong, loss oflife and property were huge. Twenty-three of the 26 seamen on two fishing boatsfrom Binh Dinh province remain unaccounted for, and only three have been rescued.Meanwhile, in four provinces directly affected by the storm, 92,000 houses losttheir roofs and 5,000 collapsed, while some 600 other facilities, like healthstations and schools, were damaged.

Efforts are ongoing to search for landslidevictims in Quang Nam, said Cuong, who is also deputy head of the Central SteeringCommittee for Natural Disaster Prevention and Control.

At the meeting, the PM requested that all-levelauthorities, sectors, and localities continue with search and rescue efforts,deal with the aftermath of the storms and flooding, pay due regard to theprevention of disease, including COVID-19, and return life to normal as soon aspossible.

Financial support will be provided to families inQuang Nam and Quang Ngai provinces with seriously damaged houses, he said,adding that more assistance will also be given to provinces affected.

The Government leader stressed the necessity todouble or even triple efforts to make up for the losses suffered, includingstepping up the disbursement of public investment and ODA capital and boostingproduction and trade over the two remaining months of the year, to recordannual growth of 2-3 percent./.