The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MoNRE) held a
ceremony in Hanoi on March 20 to mark World Meteorological Day
(March 23).
With the theme “Watching the weather to
protect life and property”, this year’s event affirmed the humanitarian
and political significance of timely and exact weather forecasts that
can help protect human life and assets, as well as serve the
sustainable development of all countries, said Le Cong Thanh, head of
the ministry’s Department of Meteorology, Hydrology and Climate Change.
Through this year’s theme, the World Meteorological
Organisation wants to highlight great contributions made by national
meteorological and gauging agencies during 24 hours per day and 365 days
per year.
According to MoNRE, due to adverse impacts
of climate change, natural disasters have increased in number and
strength, causing great losses in human life and property,
socio-economic and culture infrastructure, as well as negative impacts
on the environment.
Between 2001 and 2010, natural
disasters, including storms, floods, landslides, droughts and soil
salinisation, left more than 9,500 people dead and missing and caused
losses accounting for about 1.5 percent of the country’s GDP each year.
In an effort to limit the losses, the Government has
assigned the ministry to work with relevant agencies and localities to
implement measures to improve the capacity and quality of weather
forecasts.
Tasks focus on developing legal documents
on weather forecasts, modernising the observation network and raising
the sense of responsibility among public in coping with natural
disasters.
Following the ceremony, the MoNRE held a seminar to review the implementation of legal documents on meteorology and hydrology.-VNA