In an urgent telegram on Friday night, PM Nguyen Tan Dung asked chairmen of the provincial People’s Committees from Ha Tinh to Phu Yen to instruct local administrations and rescue forces to complete mass evacuations before 17.00pm on Saturday. 

He also asked chairmen of the provincial People’s Committees from Quang Ninh to Kien Giang to mobilise rescue forces and try to have contact with the remaining number of fishing vessels still at sea and guide them to safe storm shelters.

According to the National Hydro-Meteorology Forecasting Centre, by 13.00 pm on Saturday, Typhoon Xangsane, which has strengthened to Category 13 on the national scale, was about 330km east of the coastline between Da Nang and Quang Ngai. The powerful typhoon is moving west with winds gusting up to 149kph near its centre and is expected to strike the central coast on Saturday evening and move further inland the next day.

Weather forecasters warned central provinces from Nghe An to Phu Yen of torrential rains and high tidal surges, particularly landslides and flash floods in mountainous areas.

The typhoon claimed at least 61 lives when it swept through the Philippines two days ago. 

Human life given top priority
Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Sinh Hung on Friday urged central provinces to give top priority to protecting people's lives before the typhoon makes landfall.

He told a newly-established special unit under the Central Committee for Flood and Storm Control in Da Nang that residents living in high-risk areas must be evacuated before Sunday.

He also ordered local authorities to ban fishing vessels from going offshore and to close down schools and entertainment areas.
“We must mobilise all possible means to cope with the typhoon,” Mr Hung said.

He told Da Nang authorities to have its own scheme to overcome the aftermath of the typhoon.
“The city must keep abreast of information from vessels returning to port and areas vulnerable to landslides,” said Mr Hung. “Municipal authorities must take steps to evacuate residents living in makeshift or dilapidated houses and protect stores of goods, clinics and schools.”

By late Friday, more than 520 vessels carrying along 5,000 fishermen on board were still out at sea or out of contact, according to the Central Committee for Flood and Storm Control. Among them 169 were still fishing around the Hoang Sa and Truong Sa archipelagos. Thanh Hoa and Da Nang claimed to have contacted 1,114 and 1,534 fishermen, respectively.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has asked regional countries to allow Vietnamese fishermen to take shelter in foreign ports in case of emergency.