The conference was attended by representatives from various ministries and sectors and 34 flash flood prone provinces and cities.

Delegates presented reports on the consequences and causes of flash floods and landslides as well as control measures.

Over the past 10 years, 96 flash floods occurred across the country, leaving 883 people dead and 1,500 injured. More than 6,000 houses were swept away, hundreds of thousands of hectares of rice and subsidiary crops were submerged and many irrigation works were heavily damaged, causing a total of more than VND 6,000 billion in damage.

Deputy PM Hai praised ministries, sectors and localities’ efforts to cope with natural disasters and tasked them with more actively raising public awareness by intensifying communications and measures to relocate citizens to safer areas.

He also asked the Ministry of Natural Resources and the Environment and the National Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting Centre to apply advanced technology in forecasting to help all localities cope with climate changes, thus minimizing the loss of lives and property in future.