STORM IN DA NANG – NORU (SEPTEMBER, 2022)

“Welcome to Da Nang – the beautiful city with clear sky, blue beaches and white sands.”

At the same time,

“It was my first time here, living in the area (Da Nang) very vulnerable to climate disasters.”

You are not misunderstanding when reading this. Da Nang City is very famous for tourism in the world. Unfortunately, this city is in Central of Vietnam where always considered as “HOT SPOT” of extreme weather and natural disaster in the country.

In 27 and 28^th , September, 2022, Typhoon Noru hit Da Nang, bringing powerful and winds and heavy rain as hundreds of thousands of people were evacuated. During that period, 400,000 individuals living in more than 100,000 families were evacuated, according to the official Vietnam News Agency's English-language daily, Viet Nam News. There were about 7,000 local visitors and 11,000 foreign tourists staying in the city.

On September 25, the storm moved the East Sea as it travels at a speed of 20 km/h in a west-northwest direction. In 2022, September 26^th, around 4:00 pm, the storm was roughly 510 kilometers east of the Hoang Sa Archipelago, with maximum sustained winds of levels 11 to 12 and level 15 gustiness. The storm, which had maximum sustained winds of levels 12 to 13, and got highest level at 16.

The violent storm Noru prompted the National Steering Committee for Natural Disaster Prevention and Management of Viet Nam to call on authorities in coastal areas to adopt proactive and essential mitigation measures. Fisherman in the alert zones were admonished to stay on land during Typhoon Noru, while fishing boats operating in the East Sea were asked to return to port. In an effort to keep them safe and safeguard their properties, attention must also be directed to helping locals get ready for extreme weather.

According to the report by Da Nang government, the damages which were caused by NORU were drastically severe. There were TWO school’s roofs were collapsed. The house of soldiers was stripped of its roof by more than 50%. Trees fell more than 70%. Regarding Agriculture, 3 pig farms were swept away. 4 transport ships and 1 squid fishing boat moored at buoy number. Da Nang city had 400 fallen trees; 3 houses had their roofs blown off (people evacuated to a safe place).

With events like this, I believe it is very important to keep citizens informed about the weather. Alo, through my experiences, we can prepare things before the extreme weather happens such as:

• ·       Keep an eye on local media for news.
• ·       Look for safe shelter.
• ·       Always carry valid identification
• ·       Lock up any loose exterior goods, such as branches, roofing materials, window coverings, doors, and rubbish.
• ·       Fill up the water, generator, and vehicle tanks.
• ·       Inspect and maintain radios.
• ·       Charge your phone and keep your charger with you.
• ·       Collect tools, flashlights, and first aid supplies.
• ·       Stock up on new batteries, candles, matches, water, food (dry or tinned), and pet supplies.
• ·       Ensure there is a sufficient supply of first aid supplies and prescription drugs.
• ·       Get your home and family ready for power outages and flooding.

Hoi An – ancient town - from a tourist destination with charming scenery, when the storm passed, many areas in Hoi An were flooded with floating garbage. However, at that moment, beautiful images were recorded by local people when foreign tourists who could not return home due to the storm waded through the water to help people in Hoi An clean up, collect trash, and the scene was scattered after the typhoon No. 4 hit the mainland. I felt truly grateful when watching it as Vietnamese.

Coincidentally, when the storm happened, I was also on a business trip in DA NANG, when I went to Hoi An and helped people here clean up, I had the opportunity to ask a Belgian tourist that why he spent his precious vacation time doing this. Here was his answer:

"For us, Vietnam was a beautiful country and the people were very kind, so we wanted to do something to make this place beautiful again." said Max. To be honest, I was completely touched by those words.

At that moment, there was a strong hope in my heart emerging that: “That's right, when the world still has so many good people like this, surely we will have a way to save our green home.”