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VIETNAM: Preparation Mitigates Impact of Typhoon Ketsana

Helen Clark

HANOI, Oct 2 2009 (IPS) - Three days may have been a small window of opportunity, but it was enough time to save thousands of lives.

Approximately 200,000 people were evacuated by emergency services just before typhoon Ketsana made landfall on Vietnam’s central coast on Sep. 29, after blowing across the South China Sea from the Philippines, where it unleashed a month’s worth of rain in just 12 hours.

Ketsana hit Manila and surrounding areas on Saturday, Sep. 26, leaving 246 people dead and more than 107,000 families homeless. Damage was estimated at 5.6 billion pesos (118.6 million U.S. dollars), according to the National Disaster Coordinating Council.

"The fact that the typhoon hit the Philippines gave Vietnam time. (Relocating) 200,000 people in two days saved many, many lives," Ugo Blanco, programme officer of the disaster mitigation arm of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), told IPS via phone. This downgraded problems to "low to middle impact" from the "deadly" typhoon, he said, which has to date killed over 400 people in the Philippines, Vietnam and Cambodia.

"The Vietnamese government has done a tremendous job preparing for the storm. They’ve been tracking the storm for several days, evacuating people from high-risk areas, closing schools and taking necessary precautions to keep casualties as low as possible," wrote Peter Newsum, the country director of CARE International on a Sep. 30 blog on the aid organisation’s website.

Residents of the Ketsana-hit areas in Vietnam took their own precautions as well, such as sandbagging their roofs, a common practice in areas where typhoons and tropical storms are regular misfortunes.

Ketsana is the worst disaster to hit the communist state in years. It has left over 100 people dead and 120 million U.S. dollars worth of damage. Vietnam floods killed some 750 people in 1999 while typhoons Xangsane and Durian both left at least 70 dead in 2006.

At least 14 are still missing in the central coastal and highlands regions in the wake of Tuesday’s typhoon whose winds reached up to 167 kilometres an hour. Over 17,000 houses were destroyed and close to 4,000 classrooms damaged. According to state media reports, 10 provinces were affected and some 200,000 hectares of cropland were destroyed.

Professional photographer Nguyen Trong Tung, who lives in the capital, was visiting a friend when the storm hit. "The rains moved all the trees and the wind was so loud. It was raining all the time."

"The devastation is unbelievable, though at least the river’s gone back to where it belongs," says Steve Harrison, a resident of Hoi An, a popular tourist spot on Vietnam’s south central coast. He adds that debris from various landslides floated into the town at the height of the storm, leaving large logs in the town’s main streets.

Foreign tourists in Hoi An were stranded in hotels, sometimes doubling up in rooms after their accommodations became uninhabitable, according to media reports. Rescue workers delivered instant noodles and drinking water via boat.

Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung, who visited the affected areas on Sep. 29 and 30, pledged to give 460 million Vietnam dong (28,000 U.S. dollars) in assistance and 10,000 tonnes of rice to the victims. U.S. Secretary of State Hilary Clinton offered Vietnam aid during a visit to Washington by Vietnam’s Foreign Minister Pham Gia Khiem. The European Commission has promised 2 million euros (2.9 million U.S. dollars) in aid to Vietnam along with Cambodia and Laos, according to the ‘Thanh Nien News’ daily.

Teams of foreign experts from humanitarian organisations, including Oxfam, CARE, Save the Children, and the UNDP, are set to visit the affected areas to carry out surveys on the longer-term impacts of the typhoon and possible relief and rehabilitation efforts.

Vietnam is now clearing up after floodwaters left by typhoon Ketsana began to recede in some of the flood-ravaged areas. Already the nation is bracing itself for yet another powerful typhoon – codenamed Parma, a category five storm – that could massive damage and casualties it its wake unless adequate disaster mitigation measures are in place.

Typhoon Parma is expected to hit the Philippines Saturday, Oct. 3.

In May 2006 typhoon Chanchu hit the Philippines, killing 41 people. It did not make landfall in Vietnam, but inadequate warnings to fishermen working the South China Sea meant many were lost at sea. Public anger followed.

Vietnam has a tropical monsoon climate, and storms are nothing new to the nation. However, the UNDP says that in recent years the frequency and severity of such storms has increased as a result of climate change.

"Vietnam suffers 6.4 typhoons per year (on average)," said Blanco. "This is already typhoon number nine, and we have one or to months until the end of the season. I would say climate change will impact negatively."

According to international organisations like the UNDP, Vietnam is also at risk from rising sea levels, which may leave up to 40 percent of land under water.