Viet Nam: Drought and Saltwater Intrusion - Office of the Resident Coordinator Flash Update No. 1 (As of 23 January 2020)

This update is issued on behalf of the UN Resident Coordinator in Viet Nam in collaboration with humanitarian partners. It covers the period from December 2019 to 23 January 2020. The next update will be issued once new information becomes available.

Highlights

• Since December 2019, severe drought and saltwater intrusion conditions have been detected and have begun to significantly affect the livelihood, food security and water supply of 685,558 people across all provinces in the Mekong Delta region (source:
  
  CCNDPC).

• Preliminary satellite observations indicate that the level of severity will continue to increase.

• On 10 December 2019, in Can Tho, VDMA, UNESCAP, ASEAN Secretariat and UN called for early actions in the National MultiStakeholder policy dialogue – early actions to mitigate drought and saline intrusion in Southern Viet Nam.

• On 3 January, in Ben Tre, Deputy Prime Minister Trinh Dinh Dung chaired a conference on prevention and response to drought and saltwater intrusion where the situations from thirteen affected provinces were discussed.

• On 9 January, the Government requested participation from UN, Red Cross and NGOs partners to carry out a multi-cluster rapid assessment to better understand the immediate needs of the affected provinces.

• Central Committee for Natural Disaster Prevention and Control, INGOs, Viet Nam Red Cross partners and United Nations, conducted a joint multi-cluster rapid assessment 15-17 January to inform response planning. Findings are expected to become available 5 February.