Lack of professionalism hampers Vietnam’s rescue capacity

Vietnam’s disaster rescue capacity is rather poor, Nguyen Son Ha, former chief of the National Committee for Search and Rescue said in an interview with Thanh Nien.

One of the shortcomings, according to Ha, is a shortage of specialized equipment.

Vietnam only has four rescue helicopters with a range of 150 kilometers. As a result, the country is incapable of providing aerial response to disasters at sea.

What's more, the helicopters cannot fly out in bad weather. 

Rescue boats are similarly inadquate, he said. The country’s most advanced boat, Sa41, is only able to stand the 6^th degree [out of nine degrees] of waves.

“Therefore, when typhoons cause accidents at sea, we don't have the resources to make timely rescues,” Ha said, citing that hundreds of fishermen died at sea when the super typhoon Chanchu hit Vietnam in 2006.

Due to a dearth of advanced equipment, local rescuers responded late to landslides and floods in the northern and central regions as well, he added.

The lack of major rescue forces is another big problem.

At the moment Vietnam has only three centers dedicated to sea rescue, three centers for oil spill mititgation and a few agencies responsible for mining accidents. The rest, meanwhile, deal with a wide range of emergencies, he said.

The specialized forces are newly established, Ha said, so their expertise is still limited. Meanwhile, the quality of the general assignment crews isn’t very good, according to the official.

He alleged that while the scope of their training is broad, it isn't very substantive.

“Our want to mobilize local populations […] to deal with natural disasters; however, now there are many disasters and accidents that can’t be dealt with many people, but require professional forces.”

Ha also pointed out shortcomings in localities’ ability to deal with disasters, including local people’s lack of preparations for storms and floods.

On the other hand, he stressed that the government has made plans to strengthen the country’s rescue capacity by investmenting in new equipment.

According to Ha the country plans to purchase two advanced helicopters from France and build 19 rescue boats locally.

The country is also looking into establishing search and rescue centers at various islands like Phu Quoc and Con Dao and Truong Sa Archipelago.

Still, Ha was concerned that even after the proposed purchases, Vietnam will have a hard time effecively dealing with tsunamis or hurricanes in the immediate future.

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Lack of professionalism hampers Vietnam’s rescue capacity

Vietnam’s disaster rescue capacity is rather poor, Nguyen Son Ha, former chief of the National Committee for Search and Rescue said in an interview with Thanh Nien.

One of the shortcomings, according to Ha, is a shortage of specialized equipment.

Vietnam only has four rescue helicopters with a range of 150 kilometers. As a result, the country is incapable of providing aerial response to disasters at sea.

What's more, the helicopters cannot fly out in bad weather. 

Rescue boats are similarly inadquate, he said. The country’s most advanced boat, Sa41, is only able to stand the 6^th degree [out of nine degrees] of waves.

“Therefore, when typhoons cause accidents at sea, we don't have the resources to make timely rescues,” Ha said, citing that hundreds of fishermen died at sea when the super typhoon Chanchu hit Vietnam in 2006.

Due to a dearth of advanced equipment, local rescuers responded late to landslides and floods in the northern and central regions as well, he added.

The lack of major rescue forces is another big problem.

At the moment Vietnam has only three centers dedicated to sea rescue, three centers for oil spill mititgation and a few agencies responsible for mining accidents. The rest, meanwhile, deal with a wide range of emergencies, he said.

The specialized forces are newly established, Ha said, so their expertise is still limited. Meanwhile, the quality of the general assignment crews isn’t very good, according to the official.

He alleged that while the scope of their training is broad, it isn't very substantive.

“Our want to mobilize local populations […] to deal with natural disasters; however, now there are many disasters and accidents that can’t be dealt with many people, but require professional forces.”

Ha also pointed out shortcomings in localities’ ability to deal with disasters, including local people’s lack of preparations for storms and floods.

On the other hand, he stressed that the government has made plans to strengthen the country’s rescue capacity by investmenting in new equipment.

According to Ha the country plans to purchase two advanced helicopters from France and build 19 rescue boats locally.

The country is also looking into establishing search and rescue centers at various islands like Phu Quoc and Con Dao and Truong Sa Archipelago.

Still, Ha was concerned that even after the proposed purchases, Vietnam will have a hard time effecively dealing with tsunamis or hurricanes in the immediate future.

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Biggest-ever parade marks Hanoi’s millennium

A grand meeting and biggest-ever parade was held at Ba Dinh Square on October 10 to celebrate the 1000th anniversary of Thang Long-Hanoi.

The meeting was attended by Party General Secretary Nong Duc Manh, State President Nguyen Minh Triet, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung, National Assembly Chairman Nguyen Phu Trong, Chairman of the Vietnam Fatherland Front (VFF) Central Committee Huynh Dam, and Secretary of the Hanoi municipal Party Committee Pham Quang Nghi along with former senior State and Party leaders.

Ambassadors, representatives from international organisations in Vietnam, centrally-run ministries, sectors and media agencies plus heroic mothers, revolutionary veterans, armed forces and labour heroes, and almost 40,000 people and soldiers representing millions of others in and outside the country also joined the event.

The celebration honoured the armed forces and highlighted the tremendous achievements Hanoi and the country have recorded during 1,000 years of history, national construction and development, and during the Doi Moi (Renewal) process in which Hanoi has been honoured as a capital city of peace and friendship.

To begin the celebration, a torch was lit at Hanoi’s Millennial Anniversary cauldron. The torch symbolises eternal vitality of the Vietnamese nation and the flame of Ho Chi Minh’s thoughts which has lit the revolutionary path towards the goal of a prosperous people living in a powerful country with a just, democratic and civilised society.

Party and State leaders, along with the delegates, saluted the national flag while the military band played the national anthem and 21 canons fired a salvo.

In his speech, President Triet extended his best wishes and sincere thanks to people across the country, overseas Vietnamese and international friends for their special sentiments towards Hanoi on its 1000th grand anniversary.

1,000 years ago, in the autumn of 1010, King Ly Thai To issued the royal edict to transfer the capital from Hoa Lu to Thang Long, opening up a glorious period of development for the capital.

From that historic milestone to the Ho Chi Minh era, over 1,000 years of ups and downs, Thang Long-Hanoi has maintained its assured posture and indomitable spirit, deserving to be the heart of the whole country, he said.

“The 1000th anniversary of Thang Long-Hanoi gave us a chance to highlight the noble traditional values and priceless heritage of our ancestors and express our deep gratitude to those who founded the country as well as President Ho Chi Minh, revolutionary veterans, and heroic martyrs who laid down their lives for national independence and freedom,” Triet said.

“We are responsible for preserving and upholding the ancestors’ traditions and raising them to a new level in the Ho Chi Minh era,” he further said.

President Triet called on the whole population to unite and use energy, brain power and talent to build Hanoi into a civilised, modern and beautiful capital capable of keeping pace with other cities in the world.

Following President Triet’s speech, there was a grand parade with ten helicopters flying above carrying the Party and National flags and banners saying “The 1000th anniversary of Thang Long-Hanoi”.

The parade, the biggest of its kind, attracted the participation of representatives from different groups, including the army, war veterans, the youth, workers, farmers, intellectuals, State employees, entrepreneurs, religions, women and overseas Vietnamese.

The celebration concluded with art performance by 2,000 artists and actresses and with release of balloons and doves into the sky above historic Ba Dinh square./.

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Agriculture, fisheries census

HA NOI — The Vietnamese Government will conduct a nationwide agriculture and fisheries census next July.

The survey is being conducted to serve the country's socio-economic development policies.

In accordance with Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung's instructions, the month-long census, which will start on July 1, 2011, aims to collect basic information about the country's rural and agricultural sector.

The census's results are expected to serve as a basis for assessing the implementation of national programmes in rural areas.

Accordingly, the number of production units, labourers and labour structures along with how technology is affecting production and the environment will be surveyed.

In addition, the census will provide an overview of the transformation of the country's rural economy and socio-economic infrastructure.

Information concerning living conditions and individual's ability to access loans and vocational training standards will also be surveyed.

The census's findings will be announced next December and the official results published during the third quarter in 2012.

The steering board at the central level will take responsibility for building plans that will be submitted to the Planning and Investment Minister. Municipal governments will be responsible for carrying out their own surveys.

The census is conducted every five years by the General Statistics Office.

According to the 2006 census, Viet Nam has 10.47 million housing units participating in the agriculture and fishing sector, which is 770,000 units less than in 2001. — VNS

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Rise in STDs spurs calls for condom use

Officials and experts responsible for monitoring demographics and population growth are worried about a potential decline in family planning and an increase in sexually transmitted diseases when programs providing subsidized condoms are cut next year.

As Vietnam has reached the threshold of becoming a middle-income country, international provision and subsidies of condoms would be cut, said Do Ngoc Tan, director of the Department of Population and Family Planning.

He said that there had been no offers of subsidized condoms for the country's population and family planning program after 2010.

During the 1996-2009 period, the program supplied more than 1.2 billion condoms, of which 435 million were free and 780 million subsidized by up to 70 percent. The popular types of condoms supplied often ranged from VND1,000 to VND3,000 (15 US cents) in value.

It is estimated that from 2011 to 2015, the country would need about 2.3 billion condoms, costing about $57.5 million, Tan said. But currently only 62 million of condoms had been promised by the US President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR).

Nguyen Duc Son, an official from the Ministry of Planning and Investment the country could only afford a third of the total cost for condoms each year if it had to continue the subsidy.

Tan said that people in remote and poor areas all depended on the free supply.

Government programs promoting family planning and provision of free contraceptives had previously been carried out mostly in urban areas and big cities, Tan said, where people with higher incomes were willing to pay for condoms themselves.

However, the program should have been fostered in remote and poor areas, initially to provide access to low-priced condoms, with a gradual shift towards making people pay for the contraceptives themselves.

Duong Quoc Trong, director of the General Department of Population and Family Planning said that a comprehensive program to co-ordinate, manage and supply condoms must be set up.

Communications campaigns were also needed to encourage people to shift from receiving free condoms to buying them for themselves.

Other officials called on couples to financially shoulder the burden with the government.

Huynh Cao Hai, deputy head of the Sub-department of Population and Family Planning of southern Dong Nai Province said if couples could buy the condoms themselves, the program would be effectively sustainable.

Currently, only 20 percent of people who use condoms pay for them.

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Rise in STDs spurs calls for condom use

Officials and experts responsible for monitoring demographics and population growth are worried about a potential decline in family planning and an increase in sexually transmitted diseases when programmes providing subsidised condoms are cut next year.

As Vietnam has reached the threshold of becoming a middle-income country, international provision and subsidies of condoms would be cut, said Do Ngoc Tan, director of the Department of Population and Family Planning.

He said that there had been no offers of subsidised condoms for the country's population and family planning programme after 2010.

During the 1996-2009 period, the programme supplied more than 1.2 billion condoms, of which 435 million were free and 780 million subsidised by up to 70 percent. The popular types of condoms supplied often ranged from 1,000 VND to 3,000 VND (up to 0.15 USD) in value.

It is estimated that from 2011 to 2015, the country would need about 2.3 billion condoms, costing about 57.5 million USD, Tan said. But currently only 62 million of condoms had been promised by the US President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR).

Nguyen Duc Son, an official from the Ministry of Planning and Investment the country could only afford a third of the total cost for condoms each year if it had to continue the subsidy.

Tan said that people in remote and poor areas all depended on the free supply.

Government programmes promoting family planning and provision of free contraceptives had previously been carried out mostly in urban areas and big cities, Tan said, where people with higher incomes were willing to pay for condoms themselves. However, the programme should have been fostered in remote and poor areas, initially to provide access to low-priced condoms, with a gradual shift towards making people pay for the contraceptives themselves.

Duong Quoc Trong, director of the General Department of Population and Family Planning said that a comprehensive programme to co-ordinate, manage and supply condoms must be set up.

Communications campaigns were also needed to encourage people to shift from receiving free condoms to buying them for themselves.

Other officials called on couples to financially shoulder the burden with the Government.

Huynh Cao Hai, deputy head of the Sub-department of Population and Family Planning of southern Dong Nai Province said if couples could buy the condoms themselves, the programme would be effectively sustainable.

Currently, only 20 percent of people who use condoms pay for them./.

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Vietnam: a world leader on MDGs

Vietnam leads the field in its efforts to reach the UN’s Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) to cut poverty and increase public health care.

According to a report by specialists from the UK’s Overseas Development Institute (ODI), which was released on Tuesday, Vietnam made "unprecedented progress" in improving the lives of the country’s poor between 1990 and 2004.

The country has managed to halve the proportion of malnourished children and reduce the proportion of people earning less than one dollar a day, from two thirds to one-fifth of the population during this period, said the institute.

ODI also reported that Ghana, in Africa, has made a big leap forward in implementing the targeted MDGs.

The country has reduced starvation levels by nearly three-quarters, from 34 percent in 1990 to nine percent in 2004 and has outperformed every other country in the world.

Ten other African countries, including Ethiopia, Egypt and Angola, have also halved their poverty levels, according to the ODI.

In its report, the ODI criticized several countries because of a lack of progress in their efforts to achieve the UN’s MDGs, especially in poverty reduction and universal access to education.

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Vietnam: a world leader on MDGs

Vietnam leads the field in its efforts to reach the UN’s Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), to cut poverty and increase public health care.

According to a report by specialists from the UK’s Overseas Development Institute (ODI), which was released on September 14, between 1990-2004, Vietnam has made "unprecedented progress" in improving the lives of the country’s poor.

The country has managed to halve the proportion of malnourished children and reduce the proportion of people earning less than one dollar a day, from two thirds to one-fifth of the population during this period, said the Institute.

|ODI also reported that Ghana, in Africa, has made a big leap forward in implementing the targeted MDGs.

The country has reduced starvation levels by nearly three-quarters, from 34 percent in 1990 to nine percent in 2004 and has outperformed every other country in the world.

Ten other African countries, including Ethiopia, Egypt and Angola, have also halved their poverty levels, according to the ODI.

In its report, the ODI critisised several countries because of a lack of progress in their efforts to achieve the UN’s MDGs, especially in poverty reduction and universal access to education./.

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Officials raise alarm at rising spread of STDs

HA NOI — Officials and public health experts are concerned about the country's family planning sector and an increase in the spread of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs).

Next year, the country's funds for condoms will expire and individuals will be forced to personally pay for contraceptives.

As Viet Nam approaches middle-income status, international aid for condoms would be cut down, said the Department of Population and Family Planning director, Do Ngoc Tan.

He said no international organisations were offering to supply condoms to the country's population and family planning programmes after 2010.

From 1996 – 2009, the programme supplied more than 1.2 billion condoms to the country, of which 435 million were free and 780 million were sold at subsidised prices. Condoms cost between VND1,000 to VND3,000 (up to US$0.15).

It is estimated that from 2011 to 2015 the country will need about 2.3 billion condoms, which would cost about $57.5 million, Tan said. Currently, 62 million condoms have been provided by the U.S. President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR).

Nguyen Duc Son, an official from the Ministry of Planning and Investment, said if the country continued its subsidised contraceptive programme, Viet Nam would only be able to afford one-third of the total cost for condoms each year .

Tan said that people in remote and poor areas depended on the free supply.

Need for a change

The Government's social marketing programme, which is part of the population and family planning programme, will supply condoms to people at subsidised prices.

The programme is primarily carried out mostly in urban areas where people earn higher incomes and are willing to pay for condoms themselves. The programme would need to focus on remote and poor areas initially to provide access to low-price condoms and then gradually make people pay for contraceptives individually, Tan said.

General Director of the General Department of Population and Family Planning Duong Quoc Trong said a comprehensive programme to co-ordinate, manage and supply condoms must be set up.

Communication campaigns would be needed to encourage people to purchase contraceptives themselves and not to rely on free condoms.

Other officials have called on couples to financially share the cost with the Government.

Deputy head of the Sub-department of Population and Family Planning from southern Dong Nai Province Huynh Cao Hai said if couples could buy the condoms themselves, the programme would be sustainable.

Currently, about 20 per cent of people who use condoms pay for the contraceptives individually. —VNS

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Vietnam plans power purchases from China through 2015

Vietnam plans to continue purchasing electricity from China in the next five years as the country tries to ensure its energy security, the government said.

Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai asked national power utility, Electricity of Vietnam, also known as EVN, to negotiate long term contracts with Chinese partners to purchase electricity through 2015, according to a statement posted on the government website Friday. Further details were not mentioned.

EVN was also ordered to look for other power sellers in other regional countries and speed up construction of new power plants in the country. 

Vietnam is part of the ASEAN Power Grid, a plan initiated 10 years ago to connect power networks of Southeast Asian countries towards ensuring continued power supply in the region. However, the country has so far connected its grid only with Laos and Cambodia.

The government said Vietnam is developing facilities to link its grid with Thailand and Myanmar and then other Southeast Asian nations.

According to EVN, power supply will be stable in September unless there are technical problems.

Vietnam’s power consumption surged 3.2 percent in August from July even though output fell 3.5 percent to around 8.1 billion kilowatt-hours.

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Display celebrates heroic Hanoi

An exhibition at the Ho Chi Minh Museum celebrates Hanoi's heroic struggle for independence, peace and reunification last century.

On display are more than 200 documents, pictures and objects, many of them for the first time, designed to give visitors an insight into the country's struggles during President Ho Chi Minh's life and the subsequent years that saw military victory against the US and the reunification of the country.

The exhibition is divided into three parts.

The first features famous quotations, and maps and pictures of old Hanoi that strive to capture the ancient city's elegance, refinement and beauty during its struggle for independence from colonial France .

Many documents and pictures celebrate the fearless determination of the people of Hanoi to overcome their colonial oppressors.

The second part of the exhibition covers the period during the American war of destruction against North Vietnam . It bids to depict Hanoi as the spiritual capital of the country.

Hanoi established itself as a centre of socialist construction while helping the rest of the country fight US forces.

The last part of the exhibition portrays Hanoi as the City for Peace, the titled bestowed by UNESCO.

In 1975, Vietnam gained total independence. Hanoi then set about healing the wounds of war. Pictures reflect the capital's socio-economic development and urban renewal.

A visitor from Germany said the exhibition had helped him see the war from a different perspective.

"I often see documents and pictures of the war in Vietnam through information sources of the US , but this is the first time I have seen the country and its capital through documents in Vietnam ," he said.

The National Archives Centre, the Ho Chi Minh Museum, the Party Central Committee's Archival Office and the Hanoi Central Archives have organised the exhibition to mark Hanoi 's 1,000th year.

The exhibition will run until October./.

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