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Vietnam: Prepares for Typhoon Utor
Mon. December 11, 2006 06:56 am. -
Zainab Osman
(SomaliNet) Vietnam is bracing for typhoon Utor, a little more than a week after a tropical storm left 82 people dead and thousands of people homeless, officials reported Monday. "Utor is a dangerous typhoon," said Bui Minh Tang, director of the National Hydrometeorology Forecast Center. "We don't know yet exactly where it will make landfall, but all coastal provinces should take measures to prevent serious damage."
Typhoon Utor isn't expected to hit the coast for several more days. According to Vietnam's weather bureau it has left the Philippines, moving west and northwesterly across the South China Sea. It is traveling at 15 kilometers per hour but it is expected to pack a punch when it lands.
Storms are not unusual in Vietnam this time of year. But the country is still reeling from the damage inflicted by tropical storm Durian that hit December 5, just days after it killed hundreds of people in the Philippines. Despite extensive preparations and evacuations in Vietnam, many died when the storm took an unexpected sharp turn, hitting the low-lying Mekong Delta region.
"There are two equal possibilities: the typhoon may hit the shore or it may die out in the ocean," said Nguyen The Luong, director of the National Flood and Storm Control Department. "But we have to be prepared for it to make landfall. So we have sent delegations to coastal provinces to instruct people to prepare for a typhoon."
On Sunday, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung ordered that officials prevent fishing boats from Quang Ninh province in the north to Kien Giang in the south from setting out to sea. Troops are being deployed to help reinforce buildings and shore up sea defenses.
Typhoon Utor left at least seven people dead or missing in the central Philippines and forced nearly 90,000 people to evacuate.
News Category: World
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