Drought drives Vietnam’s Mekong Delta to declare state of emergency

scmp.com

  • A total of 33,000 hectares of rice fields have been damaged and nearly 70,000 households are suffering from a lack of water
  • Reasons for the drought and salinity intrusion include a lack of rain, growing water consumption and increased water storage in dams
Rice fields in the Mekong Delta of Southern Vietnam. Photo: Shutterstock
Rice fields in the Mekong Delta of Southern Vietnam. Photo: Shutterstock
Vietnam

’s prolonged drought, coupled with an extensive build-up of salinity, have driven five provinces in the country’s rice bowl to declare a state of emergency.

“This year’s drought and salinity have been way more devastating than what we saw four years ago,” said Nguyen Thien Phap, head of the water resources department in Tien Giang, one of the provinces that announced the emergency in the Mekong Delta.

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July 2019 was the hottest month ever recorded on Earth

By Mongabay.com on 2 August 2019

Arctic sea ice is in retreat as the climate crisis deepens. Photo via Pixabay.
  • UN secretary general António Guterres announced that July 2019 was the hottest month on record in a press conference yesterday.

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Information and public health advice: heat and health

Protecting health from rising temperatures and extreme heat

WHO

Key facts

  • Population exposure to heat is increasing due to climate change, and this trend will continue. Globally, extreme temperature events are observed to be increasing in their frequency, duration, and magnitude. Between 2000 and 2016, the number of people exposed to heat waves increased by around 125 million. In 2015 alone, 175 million additional people were exposed to heat waves compared to average years.

Tiếp tục đọc “Information and public health advice: heat and health”

Typhoon Mangkhut: Philippines braces for one of the strongest in its history

theguardian

Five million could be hit by super storm as gusts of up to 255km/h are expected

Philippines is braced for one of the strongest typhoons in its history, as authorities evacuate families in their thousands, close schools and put rescuers and troops on full alert in the country’s north.

Five million people are expected to be affected by Typhoon Mangkhut, which experts have categorised as a super typhoon with powerful winds and gusts equivalent to a category-5 Atlantic hurricane.

By Friday morning, almost 10,000 people across three regions had been evacuated and 22 domestic flights cancelled. By the evening, strong winds had already downed trees in Tuguegarao, a city in the main northern island of Luzon, where almost all businesses had been shuttered and police were patrolling otherwise quiet streets. Tiếp tục đọc “Typhoon Mangkhut: Philippines braces for one of the strongest in its history”

Hoài niệm buồn về những rừng dương đã mất ở ven biển Đà Nẵng

Từng là nơi cắm trại hè lý tưởng cho thanh thiếu nhi, những rừng dương Thọ Quang, Mân Thái, Mỹ Khê, Sao Biển, Non Nước, Xuân Thiều… trải ngút ngàn dọc ven biển Đà Nẵng giờ chỉ còn là hoài niệm!

Chuyện xưa kể rằng…

Có dịp đến bãi biển Đại Lãnh (Khánh Hòa) cách đây ít hôm, càng ấn tượng với rừng dương ở đây bao nhiêu, chúng tôi càng tiếc quay, tiếc quắt những rừng dương Thọ Quang, Mân Thái, Mỹ Khê, Sao Biển, Non Nước, Xuân Thiều… trải ngút ngàn trên bãi biển Đà Nẵng. Nếu còn đến bây giờ, chắc cũng cổ thụ không kém gì rừng dương Đại Lãnh. Cách đây hơn 10 năm về trước, những rừng dương ấy là nơi thanh thiếu nhi Đà Nẵng mở hết đợt trại này đến đợt trại khác, nhất là vào dịp hè.

Hoài niệm buồn về những rừng dương đã mất ở ven biển Đà Nẵng - ảnh 1
Càng ấn tượng với rừng dương ven biển Đại Lãnh (Khánh Hòa) hiện nay bao nhiêu… (Ảnh: HC)

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World Lightning Map: Lightning is not uniformly distributed across the Earth.

geology.com

Article by: , Ph.D., RPG

world lightning map

lightning flash scale

World Lightning Map: The map above shows the average yearly counts of lightning flashes per square kilometer based on data collected by NASA’s Lightning Imaging Sensor on the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission satellite between 1995 and 2002. Places where less than one flash occurred (on average) each year are gray or light purple. The places with the largest number of lightning strikes are deep red, grading to black. Enlarge.

What is Lightning?

Lightning is a sudden high-voltage discharge of electricity that occurs within a cloud, between clouds, or between a cloud and the ground. Globally, there are about 40 to 50 flashes of lightning every second, or nearly 1.4 billion flashes per year. These electrical discharges are powerful and deadly.
Tiếp tục đọc “World Lightning Map: Lightning is not uniformly distributed across the Earth.”

Thunderstorm activity and research on lightning position in Vietnam

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Vietnam is situated in the centre of the Asian thunderstorm region – one of three thunderstorm centres in the world. This article gives an overview of thunderstorm activity in Vietnam and results from the research on lightning position over the past year in Institute of Geophysics under the Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology.

Research on thunderstorms aims to observe and study thunderstorm activity over space and time, as well as exploring how and why lightning formulates. Research on lightning position aims to define the density of lightning (number of lightning flash/km2 /year), and also measure other lightning parameters such as the intensity and the slope of the lightning bolt. Lightning density is an important specific quantity for thunderstorm activity in each region. It requires complicated steps to determine a lightning bolts density. This value is different according to region, depending on characteristics in climate terrain and other weather conditions.

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Early Warning System Innovations in Vietnam: HOW SMS TECHNOLOGY CAN ENSURE EDUCATION CONTINUITY

Save the children

Disaster-prone Vietnam is susceptible to rapid-onset emergencies like storms, typhoons, and flooding annually. During these times, children are unable to go to school due to unsafe conditions and parents fearing for their children’s safety. Approximately 70% of the population is living in coastal and low-lying areas, resulting in high vulnerability to extreme weather events intensified by climate change and global warming.

As part of Save the Children in Vietnam’s risk reduction work, the country office has been working to improve the way hazard risk information is shared. Partnering with local government agencies and mobile companies, Save the Children initiated an SMS disaster early warning system that provides weather information to the vulnerable coastal provinces of Thua Thien Hue, Quang Nam, and Da Nang. Tiếp tục đọc “Early Warning System Innovations in Vietnam: HOW SMS TECHNOLOGY CAN ENSURE EDUCATION CONTINUITY”

Typhoon Tembin turns deadly in the Philippines; Vietnam faces threats around Christmas

By Kristina Pydynowski, AccuWeather senior meteorologist
December 24, 2017, 6:29:56 AM EST

accuweather_Typhoon Tembin will threaten more lives and property as it targets southern Vietnam around Christmas Day.

Tembin, which is being called Vinta in the Philippines, is being blamed for the deaths of at least 90 people as it crossed Mindanao with heavy rain and strong winds late this week.

Landslides that wiped out entire villages are being blamed for a majority of the deaths.

Tembin track 12 24 17

Floodwaters washed away homes, made some roads impassable and forced hundreds to evacuate.

RELATED: 
Interactive Philippines weather satellite
Vietnam weather center
15 photos recall the magnitude, devastation of natural disasters around the world in 2017
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Typhoon Tembin: Flash floods, landslides kill over 100 in the Philippines

(CNN) A tropical storm that brought devastating flooding and landslides in the southern Philippines strengthened into a typhoon Sunday morning, according to the Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical Astronomical Services Administration.

Typhoon Tembin — known as Vinta in the Philippines — has killed at least 123 people, sweeping away residents and leaving communities buried in mud, authorities said.
After battering the southern island of Mindanao, Tembin slammed into another set of Philippine islands late Saturday.
Officials have given conflicting death tolls since the storm ravaged towns and displaced thousands.

Vietnam Typhoon Damrey, International Red Cross response – Bão Damrey, con số và ứng phó của Chữ thập đỏ Quốc tế

From International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies – IFRC

Hiệp hôi Chữ Thập Đỏ và Trăng lưỡi liềm đỏ quốc tế tại Việt Nam,

Thiệt hại

4,3 triệu người bị ảnh hưởng bởi bão

381, 000 nghìn người cần hỗ trợ

120,000 nghìn ngôi nhà bị hỏng và gần 15,000 nghìn nhà bị phá huỷ

Cứu trợ từ Chữ Thập Đỏ

600 bộ, dựng lều và  gia cố nơi ở

1,200 nhà bạt che mưa di động

600 lít nước lọc

272,000 viên lọc nước uống

51,000 Francs Thuỵ Sĩ

Hỗ trợ về người dọn dẹp, xây dựng, khắc phục hậu quả sau bão

Cứu trợ lũ lụt: Sao cứ là mì tôm, nước mắm?

(NLĐO) – LTS: Hằng năm, cùng với mưa bão, lũ lụt, các đoàn cứu trợ lại lên đường mang theo quà đa phần là quần áo cũ, mì tôm, gạo, nước mắm. Việc cứu trợ đó có đúng nơi, đúng người và thiết thực? Chia sẻ của chị Huệ Thi – một người dân vùng lũ ở Quảng Nam sẽ phần nào phản ánh tính thiết thực của việc cứu trợ hiện nay.

Cứu trợ lũ lụt: Sao cứ là mì tôm, nước mắm? - Ảnh 1.

Chia sẻ của chị Huệ Thi trên Facebook cá nhân về việc cứu trợ lũ lụt

Tôi sinh ra tại Đại Lộc – Quảng Nam, nơi mà hằng năm có ít nhất 1 trận bão hoặc cơn lũ. Dân quê tôi luôn ở trạng thái sẵn sàng ứng phó và chuẩn bị, đó cũng là lý do sao mà nhà cửa ở đây hầu như có gác hoặc xây kiên cố dù gia cảnh nhiều người còn khó khăn.

Lũ về thì mùa màng năm sau mới được phù sa bồi đắp tốt chứ không hẳn tiêu cực hoang tàn. Trời chuyển mưa dân quê đã biết dự đoán có lũ về hay không, tất nhiên lũ to nhỏ còn do thiên nhiên nhưng vẫn chủ động chuẩn bị mớ gạo mắm, đủ chống đói trong thời gian cả tuần. Tiếp tục đọc “Cứu trợ lũ lụt: Sao cứ là mì tôm, nước mắm?”