Hanoi (VNA) – Vietnam’s central and south central localities are takingmeasures to cope with storm Damrey, which is forecast to make landfall from PhuYen to Binh Thuan provinces on early November 4.

OnNovember 3, leaders of central Ninh Thuan province visited seaports and weakdyke portions to direct evacuation of locals to safer places.

TranVan Tuan, chief of the secretariat of the provincial Steering Board forDisaster Prevention and Search and Rescue, said that as of 1pm, 2,303 out of2,651 fishing vessels of the province returned to ports, while 347 othersanchored at ports of other provinces and on Da Tay A island of the Truong Sa(Spratly) archipelago.

Theboard asked the coastal hydro-meteorological station to quickly contact with a ship still operatingin the DK1 Platform sea area to go onshore immediately.

Chairmanof the provincial People’s Committee Luu Xuan Vinh sent an urgent dispatchrequesting the local education sector to allow students to stay at home fromNovember 4 till the storm goes.

Chairmanof the People’s Committee of central Quang Ngai province Tran Ngoc Cang urgedlocal authorities to ensure safety for ships and irrigational and hydropowerreservoirs, and ensure food reserves.

Accordingto a report of the provincial Border Guard Command, as of 10am of November 3,260 fishing vessels with 3,590 fishermen aboard were still operating in the seaarea to be affected by the storm.

Alsoon the day, the Steering Board for Disaster Prevention and Search and Rescue ofsouthern Tien Giang province held an urgent meeting to take active measures tocope with storm Damrey and minimize losses.

Extraefforts have been exerted to reinforce dykes and houses in the province.

Ata meeting held by the Steering Committee for Natural Disaster Prevention andControl on the morning of November 3, the committee head Nguyen Xuan Cuong, whois Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, asked relevant localities toactively deal with the storm in order to ensure safety for the APEC EconomicLeaders’ Week slated for November 6-11 in the central city of Da Nang.

Attentionmust be paid to calling upon ships to find shelters, evacuating people fromfish cage farming areas and areas prone to flash floods and landslides, Cuongemphasised.

Herequested the Vietnam Television, Radio the Voice of Vietnam and press agenciesto increase coverage about storm developments and disseminate skills to respondto disasters to the public.

Accordingto the National Centre for Hydro-meteorological Forecasting, a tropicaldepression on the East Sea had gained strength to become Typhoon Damrey on the morningof November 2.

At that time, the storm was at level 8 (of 18), however, when coming ashore, itcan reach levels 10 to 13. Observatories in Hong Kong and Japan forecasted thatstorm Damrey can reach levels 11 to 14 (of 18), posing severe weather threats.

By 13:00 on November 3, the storm was about 350 km east off the coast of PhuYen, Khanh Hoa and Ninh Thuan provinces, with sustained wind speed of 115-135km per hour, causing heavy downpours from Quang Tri to Binh Thuanprovinces.-VNA