Government Headquarters bridge point (Photo: Government News)

The First Session at the Government bridge point was attended by Comrade Tran Hong Ha, Member of the Party Central Committee, Deputy Prime Minister and Permanent Deputy Head of the Steering Committee; General Phan Van Giang, Member of the Politburo, Deputy Secretary of the Central Military Commission, Minister of National Defense and Deputy Head of the Steering Committee; and leaders of some ministries and Central agencies who are members of the Steering Committee. Attendees at Thai Nguyen province bridge point included Comrade Pham Hoang Son, Deputy Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee and Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee; Comrade Nong Quang Nhat, Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee; and Major General Dam Minh Tuan, Deputy Commander of Military Region 1.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh extending his deepest condolences to the families of the disaster victims, especially the families of those who died or are missing in the capsizing of Vinh Xanh 58 vessel in Ha Long (Quang Ninh)

Opening the Session, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh extended his deepest condolences to the families of the disaster victims, especially the families of those who died or are missing in the capsizing of Vinh Xanh 58 vessel in Ha Long (Quang Ninh). The Prime Minister also shared his sympathy for the great loss of property suffered by the people of several communes in Nghe An, who are currently enduring major floods caused by the remnants of Storm No. 3.

The Session was held offline and online, connecting to 34 bridge points at the People's Committees of provinces and cities and more than 3,300 bridge points in communes and wards nationwide

Previously, the Prime Minister had issued a decision to reorganize three steering committees (the National Civil Defense Steering Committee, the National Steering Committee for Natural Disaster Prevention and Control and the National Committee for Incident, Disaster Response and Search and Rescue) into a single National Civil Defense Steering Committee. At the Session, delegates focused their discussions on evaluating the work of preventing, combating and overcoming the consequences of natural disasters and search and rescue efforts in the recent past; analyzing lessons learned; and defining tasks for the final months of the year and the entire upcoming period. According to the reports and opinions presented at the Session, leadership and direction have been implemented decisively with the spirit of acting "early and from afar", continuously and closely. At times, both the Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Ministers were directly present at flood hotspots to direct recovery efforts. Local leaders also regularly directed, inspected and urged on-the-spot forces to effectively carry out disaster prevention and control work in their areas. The former Central Steering Committee for Natural Disaster Prevention and Control and the National Committee for Search and Rescue, now the National Civil Defense Steering Committee, along with steering committees at all levels, have promoted their central role, thoroughly grasping the action motto of being "proactive, decisive, preventive and responsive at the highest level, ready to respond to the worst-case scenarios".

Thai Nguyen province bridge point

In Thai Nguyen, the work of civil defense and disaster prevention and control has always been identified as an important political task. The Provincial Party Committee and the Provincial People's Committee have issued many decisive directives; developed and supplemented plans and scenarios for responding to natural disasters, incidents and for search and rescue; and created response plans for fires, explosions, building collapses, dangerous epidemics, flash floods and landslides, while proactively implementing many integrated disaster prevention solutions based on the "four-on-the-spot" motto. The province has effectively mobilized core components such as the Provincial Military Command, the Provincial Police and the militia and self-defense forces, with over 26,000 personnel, nearly 1,100 reservists and 560 police officers at all levels ready to respond to any disaster or catastrophe.

At the Conference, delegates discussed and assigned advisory and directorial tasks for disaster prevention and control in the coming time and assessed the advantages, difficulties and obstacles in this work under the new two-tier local government model.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh delivering his concluding and directive remarks at the Conference (Photo: Government News)

In his concluding and directive remarks, the Prime Minister emphasized that civil defense activities must adhere to three fundamental principles: Prevention must be done early, from afar and before an incident occurs; response must be calm, clear-headed, timely, appropriate, safe and effective; and recovery must be a joint, fundamental, all-people, comprehensive and complete effort. He noted that the forecast for natural disasters in 2025 is extremely complex, especially in the upcoming months of August, September and October and that the reality of recent years has shown many disasters that do not follow established patterns. Therefore, the Prime Minister stressed the need for a fundamental change in mindset: "We must decisively shift from passive response to proactive prevention; response must be timely and effective and recovery must be efficient. We must place people at the center as the main subject, build communes, wards and special zones into fortresses and make disaster risk management the focus of all socio-economic development plans and strategies." The Prime Minister called for: perfecting institutions to suit the new situation; and creating breakthroughs in forecasting, response and recovery capacity, especially by investing in necessary infrastructure and ensuring the "four-on-the-spot" principle.