Prime Minister: Everyone must be ready with the highest spirit to respond to storm No. 5

Politburo member and Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh directly attended and chaired the conference.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh directly directs response to storm No. 5. Photo: Van Ty/VNA

Also attending the meeting were comrades: Tran Duc Thang, member of the Party Central Committee, Acting Minister of Agriculture and Environment, members of the Government delegation; Lieutenant General Ha Tho Binh, Commander of the Military Region; Major General Doan Xuan Buong, Secretary of the Party Committee, Political Commissar of the Military Region; leaders of Nghe An province; leaders of Ha Tinh province.

Don't be subjective or negligent.

At the meeting, Acting Minister of Agriculture and Environment Tran Duc Thang reported on the situation of storm No. 5. Determining that this is a very strong storm, moving quickly, directly affecting the mainland provinces from Thanh Hoa to Quang Tri, the entire political system from the central to the grassroots level has actively and proactively taken action, giving strong direction early and from afar in accordance with the assigned functions, tasks and authorities.

Comrade Tran Duc Thang, member of the Party Central Committee, Acting Minister of Agriculture and Environment, reports on response to storm No. 5. Photo: Van Ty/VNA

Accordingly, resolutely do not let people stay on barges, fishing boats, cages, rafts, and watchtowers when the storm makes landfall; at the same time, ensure security and safety in evacuation areas, as well as places where boats, cages, and rafts are moored. People and curious tourists are strictly prohibited from watching the storm to avoid unfortunate losses. Review unfinished construction works along the coast, at sea, on islands and the sea dyke system, and deploy safety measures.

Mobilize forces to support people in harvesting ripe rice areas according to the plan "green at home is better than ripe in the fields". Check and proactively take measures to ensure the safety of reservoirs and downstream areas, especially small, important hydroelectric and irrigation reservoirs under construction; be ready to operate, regulate and handle situations. Advise people to limit going out unless absolutely necessary. Prohibit people from going out from 7am to 7pm on August 25 to minimize loss of life due to fallen trees, blown roofs, flying corrugated iron, etc. Prohibit vehicles from traveling on the road when the storm hits, especially passenger cars.

Strictly implement the Prime Minister's Official Dispatch No. 141/CD-TTg dated August 22, 2025 and No. 143/CD-TTg dated August 23, 2025. At the conference, localities such as Ha Tinh, Nghe An, Thanh Hoa, and Quang Tri also reported on the situation of proactively implementing measures to respond to storm No. 5.

In Nghe An, Provincial Party Secretary Nguyen Duc Trung requested agencies, units and localities to concentrate and seriously implement the direction of the Central and the province. The top goal is to ensure absolute safety of people's lives and minimize property damage.

In particular, review vulnerable areas at risk of coastal landslides for evacuation, prioritizing the evacuation of the elderly and children. Ensure the safety of public infrastructure works, people's houses...; mobilize forces to closely monitor the situation, coordinate with localities to participate in responding to the storm. For mountainous areas, continue to inspect and review areas along rivers and streams, areas at risk of flash floods, landslides.

Ha Tinh Provincial Party Secretary Nguyen Duy Lam said that Ha Tinh province has held meetings with 69 communes and wards in the province. The communes will be supported with funds to buy equipment for storm prevention, and prepare supplies, medicine, food, and drinking water for people to evacuate. The province has a scenario for evacuating 17 wards and communes with about 17,000 households, which will be completed tomorrow morning (August 25).

Ha Tinh Provincial Party Secretary Nguyen Duy Lam reports on response to storm No. 5. Photo: Van Ty/VNA

Localities from Thanh Hoa to Hue have organized screening and made plans to evacuate people from dangerous areas. It is expected that about 90,285 households with 325,579 people will be evacuated, of which Nghe An plans to evacuate 10,022 households with 38,639 people. Special attention has also been paid to preparing logistics and necessities at evacuation sites, determined not to let people return until the storm has passed.

As of 4 p.m. on August 24, the Border Guard force had notified, counted, and instructed 59,617 vehicles and 248,843 people about the storm's developments so they could proactively avoid it. All fishing boats in the Thanh Hoa to Ha Tinh area were called to safe shelters. Eight provinces and cities from Ninh Binh to Quang Ngai have issued a sea ban.

In the aquaculture sector, approximately 65,293 hectares of coastal farming area, more than 11,000 cages and nearly 850 watchtowers were required to be reinforced, relocated or have emergency protection measures.

Response work has been carried out in many areas. Regarding traffic, residents, and infrastructure, the localities in the plains and midlands have urgently implemented tree pruning, bracing houses, offices, schools, hospitals, warehouses, BTS stations, telecommunication poles, television towers, etc. to limit roof damage and collapse. The authorities have prepared plans to prohibit people from going out during the storm, especially from 7am to 7pm on August 25 to avoid accidents caused by falling trees and flying objects.

According to statistics, the North Central region currently has nearly 300,000 hectares of rice in the flowering and ripening stages, along with more than 77,000 hectares of fruit trees and 67,000 hectares of rubber at risk of being affected. The Department of Crop Production, Ministry of Agriculture and Environment has called on people to harvest ripe rice early to minimize damage when the storm hits.

The entire Northern and North Central regions currently have more than 4,800 irrigation and hydroelectric reservoirs, many of which have reached 70-95% of their design capacity, of which nearly 120 are being repaired and upgraded. The risk of insecurity when storms cause heavy rain and flooding is very high. The Ministry of Agriculture and Environment has issued an urgent directive on ensuring the safety of dams, reservoirs and dykes, especially 43 key locations from Ninh Binh to Hue.

Mountainous provinces are required to check residential areas along rivers, streams, foothills, and areas at high risk of landslides to proactively evacuate. On-site shock troops are mobilized to control traffic through tunnels and spillways; resolutely not allowing people to cross when it is unsafe.

It can be seen that from the central to local levels, the entire political system has joined in with the highest spirit. The Ministry of National Defense and the Ministry of Public Security have prepared forces and means to participate in rescue when necessary. The Ministry of Industry and Trade has directed the control of goods supply, avoiding speculation and hoarding, ensuring necessities for people in storm-hit areas. The Ministry of Health has prepared medicines and disinfectants to prevent epidemics after floods.

Continuing to closely monitor the storm's developments, the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment, localities, and functional forces continue to guide ships to anchor in shelters, avoid collisions, damage, and sinking at anchorage areas, including transport ships. Implement measures to ensure safety for bridge and port structures; coastal and marine tourism activities (tourist boats, domestic and international tourists); aquaculture, fishing at sea, estuaries, and coastal areas (fishing boats, cages, watchtowers, etc.).

At the same time, review and urgently organize the evacuation of people in unsafe houses; in low-lying areas near river mouths and coastal areas at risk of flooding when the storm makes landfall to safe places. Ensure logistics, necessities and accommodation conditions for people at evacuation sites; do not let people return to their homes until the storm has passed.

Put people's lives first and foremost

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh directly directs response to storm No. 5. Photo: Van Ty/VNA

Speaking at the Conference, on behalf of the Party and State leaders, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh expressed his deepest condolences to the families of those who died in the recent storm No. 4. The Prime Minister asked the localities of Dien Bien, Son La, and Nghe An to pay attention to the people, find solutions to take care of their food and accommodation, and not leave anyone behind. Localities need to continue to overcome the consequences of storm No. 3, especially schools and medical stations that were severely damaged, to prepare for the new school year. Do not let the 3 shortages (lack of schools, teachers, food and clothing). In Nghe An province alone, many schools were swept away and severely damaged. The Ministry of Public Security has been speeding up 40 days and nights to build 500 houses and a school for people who suffered heavy damage due to historic floods caused by storm No. 3.

Regarding storm No. 5, which is continuously increasing in intensity, the Prime Minister noted that the storm's circulation will have heavy rain, flash floods, landslides, and inundation, especially in mountainous, low-lying, and coastal areas, which will be very dangerous.

The Prime Minister welcomed localities, especially the Ministry of National Defense, to actively coordinate with ministries and branches to establish command centers to direct storm prevention work. However, people are still very subjective, when the storm hits, they will not be able to react in time, so the damage will also be severe. Therefore, the Prime Minister requested ministries, branches and localities to be determined, closely follow, prepare early, from afar, closely follow the situation before the storm hits; need to prepare human resources, material resources, deploy the 4 on-site plans, carefully prepare evacuation plans, the goal is to save people, must protect people's lives first and foremost, then protect people's property, ensure the fastest, most timely and effective response.

Regarding further solutions, the Prime Minister emphasized that localities must evacuate people from high-risk areas due to flooding, landslides, high tides, riverbanks, and streams to safe locations; focus on ensuring safety for boats, instructing boats in dangerous areas to stay out of dangerous areas, and in safe areas to not enter dangerous areas, in the spirit of being decisive and thorough; must closely direct the management, regulation, and flood discharge of irrigation works and dam infrastructure to prevent overlapping floods and ensure the safety of dams and reservoirs, and avoid surprises.

Representatives of local leaders attended the working session with Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and the Government delegation. Photo: Van Ty/VNA

The Prime Minister also requested ministries, departments, branches and localities to strictly implement the documents of the Standing Secretariat and the telegrams of the Prime Minister. In the spirit of their functions and powers, they must be responsible for them. In particular, the Ministry of National Defense - the standing agency of Civil Defense has established Command Centers to proactively respond to storms. The Ministry of Agriculture and Environment has grasped the situation and developments of the storm, coordinated to provide full and accurate information to the media to inform, update developments, and warn people about storm and flood prevention.

“Ministries, sectors and localities must promptly deploy measures to protect production, proactively arrange forces and means to be ready to respond when situations arise. Provinces must establish forward command centers to direct 24/7, and mobilize 4 on-site forces to be ready to support other localities. All must be ready with the highest spirit to respond to storm No. 5,” Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh emphasized.

Immediately after the meeting, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh directly inspected the work of preventing and fighting storm No. 5 in Cua Lo ward, Nghe An province.

Source: https://hanoimoi.vn/thu-tuong-tat-ca-phai-san-sang-bang-tinh-than-cao-nhat-de-ung-pho-voi-bao-so-5-713826.html