VietNamNet – On the sidelines of the National Assembly session on May 30, many deputies said that a national committee should launch a probe to investigate responsibility for damages caused by Typhoon Chanchu.
According to deputies, the committee will review the whole process of forecasting the storm, management of vessels, and subsequent rescue activities.
Nguyen Thi Van Lan, a deputy from central Da Nang City, which had the highest number of lost boats and more than 80 dead and missing sailors, said that a national committee with the participation of related ministries like the Ministry of National Resources and Environment (MoNRE), Ministry of Fisheries (MoF) and Ministry of Defence (MoD) was necessary to establish what went wrong, and the means to ensure such a tragedy is not repeated.
The MonRE is responsible for weather forecast, the MoF for ocean going vessel and aquatic resource management, and the MoD for search and rescue efforts.
“The committee will investigate the process of forecasting and preventing storm damage, to identify the reasons leading the Chanchu disaster, and to form foundations to prepare for offshore activities of fishermen in the future,” she said.
Former Minister of Justice Nguyen Dinh Loc said that for a disaster like Chanchu, a provisional committee could be established for investigation, which will dissolve after completion of its mission.
“In other countries, the government often sets up national investigation committees for such events. The establishing of such as committee is not to punish particular persons but to formulate a comprehensive appraisal the situation, seek objective and subjective reasons that lead to the consequences, and to identify solutions for the future,” Mr Loc added.
Last weekend, at the meeting with the Central Vietnam Fatherland Front Committee, Le Huy Ngo, Head of the Central Committee for Flood and Storm Control, accepted that to date, storm damage mitigation activities have focused only on the mainland.
Related to storm forecasting, according to former Director of the National Hydrometeorology Centre, Le Cong Thanh, Vietnam is able to forecast storms 24 hours in advance, and is only just beginning to trial 48 hour advance forecasts, but margin of the error is still to great.
However, one weather forecasting expert said that forecasting 48 or 72 hours in advance has such a dangerous margin of error for which they must take responsibility, that experts are loath to perform such a service.
The typhoon Chanchu also shows that management of offshore vessel activities is too loose. The MoF’s Department for Developing and Protecting Aquatic Resources is in charge of boat registration and management, and combines with the Border Guard to inform boats of the direction of storms and guide them to shelter.
However, Huynh Van Thang, Deputy Head of the Flood and Storm Control, Search and Rescue Board of Da Nang City, and Le Tien Hung, Deputy chief of staff of
All things considered, captains need to take responsibility for their decisions to put to sea in times of danger. That said, with such poor weather forecasting and loose management of vessels, the fate of Vietnamese fishermen depends as much on their luck as it does the ability of rescue teams. In the wake of the typhoon Chanchu, Vietnamese rescue vessels took up to four days to reach victims. Three naval ships have not yet found any traces of missing boats or missing persons. Those that survived saved each other, or were rescued by Chinese boats.
(Source: VNE)
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