VIETNAMESE Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc has asked authorities and agencies to quickly repair the damage caused by typhoon Damrey, which has wreaked havoc in the central and south-central coast of Vietnam.

He urged leaders of provinces directly hit by the storm to maximise efforts to search for and rescue missing people, Vietnam News Agency (VNA) reported.

He also requested local authorities and ministries to support disaster victims by providing accommodation, medical and food aid, guiding people to take measures to prevent post-flood outbreak of a pandemic, repairing damaged houses and restoring the power network while ensuring the safety of dams and reservoirs.

He ordered them to mobilise all forces and means needed to restore traffic along key roads, especially the National Railway 1 and the North-South Railway.

Earlier, Deputy Prime Minister Trinh Dinh Dung visited several areas in Phu Yen and Khanh Hoa provinces to inspect the damage caused by the typhoon and direct relief efforts.

Typhoon Damrey, the 12th major storm to hit Vietnam this year, made landfall on Saturday morning with winds of up to 135km per hour. 

The hardest hit regions include the south-central provinces of Khanh Hoa, Phu Yen and Binh Dinh, the Central Highlands provinces of Dak Lak, Dak Nong and Lam Dong, and the central provinces of Quang Nam, Quang Tri and Thua Thien-Hue and Da Nang city.

The Standing Board of the Vietnam Fatherland Front (VFF) Central Committee decided to allocate 3 billion VND (RM560,000) to the hardest hit regions.

 The funds will be used to provide relief aid to families of the deceased, missing and injured, and those whose houses collapsed or were swept away.

The Vietnam Red Cross Society released emergency aid, including money and essential goods valued at nearly 1.1 billion VND to help the provinces of Khanh Hoa, Binh Dinh, Phu Yen and Dak Lak. – Bernama, November 6, 2017.