DOKSURI, the biggest storm to hit Vietnam in years, is forecast to make landfall in the central region between late Friday and early Saturday, said the Vietnam News Agency reported.

Head of the National Centre for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting (NCHMF) Hoang Duc Cuong said this was the first time Vietnam had ranked a storm at “Danger Level 4”.

Agriculture and Rural Development Minister Nguyen Xuan Cuong, who is head of the National Steering Committee for Disaster Prevention and Control, has asked NCHMF to keep a close watch on the developments of the typhoon to provide an accurate forecast.

It was also urged to coordinate with news agencies to speed up communications on response measures so as to minimise human and asset losses, as the storm impact scale could reach between 500km and 600km.

The minister has requested that coastal localities from Quang Ninh to Binh Dinh closely follow the storm’s developments, inform ship captains of its position and movement, and ban swimming at beaches.

Northern and northern-central localities are also required to keep a close watch on the storm’s developments to carry out response measures to flash floods and landslides. – Bernama, September 13, 2017.