Viet Nam: Category 1 Typhoon Damrey (Storm No.12) Situation Update No.1 (as of 6 November 2017)

This update is issued on behalf of the United Nations Resident Coordinator in Viet Nam. It covers the period for 3-6 November 2017. Another update will be shared once new information become available.

Situation Overview

• The Government of Viet Nam, through the Central Committee for Natural Disaster Prevention and Control (CCNDPC), has actively responded to the impacts and led coordination in terms of preparedness and response to the typhoon in the Central and Southern provinces in Viet Nam. Three CCNDPC missions were deployed to Hue, Quang Nam and Quang Ngai on 6 November to provide direct instructions. In addition, CCNPDC is closely monitoring reservoir and water discharging.
• Typhoon Damrey, or Storm No.12, made
• landfall in Viet Nam on early Saturday morning, 4 November 2017, with winds of up to 135 km/hour, 500 km south of Nha Trang (Khánh Hòa province), and is expected to be one of the worst storms to strike the country's southern coastal region in years.
• The most affected provinces, including in the Central Highlands (Lâm Ðồng, Kon Tum, Ðắk Lắk, and Gia Lai) and the South-Central region (Khánh Hòa, Phú Yên, Bình Ðịnh, and Quảng Ngãi), show high numbers of deaths and missing people, seriously damaged infrastructure, collapsed/unroofed/broken houses, and destruction of 20,000 hectares of crops, including 5,296 hectares of rice, almost 15,000 hectares of vegetables, and 24,435 agricultural cages.
• More than 30,000 people were evacuated, 44 people have been killed, and 19 more are still missing.
• The Vietnamese Red Cross as well as international NGOs have started the preparation of response activities in the most affected provinces. Once the Government announces that the affected provinces are safe to travel to, assessment teams will be deployed (latest by the end of this week). So far, the Government has issued no request for international humanitarian support from the UN agencies.