The ceremony was linked with 63 hydro-meteorological centres nationwide, drawing officials from ministries, sectors, localities, scientists in the fields of meteorology, marine hydrology, climate change, natural disaster prevention and control, and marine search and rescue, and representatives from embassies and international organisations.
Addressing the ceremony, Deputy Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Le Cong Thanh recognised the major contributions of the hydro-meteorological sector in natural disaster prevention and mitigation, socio-economic development, and the safeguarding of national defence and people’s safety.
He said the theme of World Meteorological Day 2021 aims to highlight the link between the ocean, the climate, and the weather in the earth system.
The Deputy Minister noted that as understanding about oceans remains limited, the UN has launched the Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development in the 2021-2030 period.
He expressed his hope that relevant agencies will continue to coordinate with the hydro-meteorological sector and support it in issuing alerts to serve natural disaster prevention and mitigation.
Thanh affirmed that as a member of the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO), Vietnam will coordinate closely with relevant parties to promote oceanic monitoring and researching activities, contributing to implementing the Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development goals of “safe ocean”, “predicted ocean”, and “transparent ocean”.
At a workshop following the ceremony, head of the VMHA Tran Hong Thai said that hydrological forecasting, including oceanographic forecasting, plays an important role in helping ministries, sectors, and localities adjust their socio-economic activities and crop farming, as well as in preparing preventive measures to minimise the impact of natural disasters.
He said that two new weather radar stations will be built, in Phu Lien in northern Hai Phong city and Vinh city in central Nghe An province, to increase hydro-meteorological forecasting capacity. Meanwhile, the entire weather radar system will be upgraded to cover the mainland and marine areas, including the Truong Sa archipelago and Phu Quoc Island, thus monitoring the development of storms.
Deputy head of the Central Steering Committee on Natural Disaster Prevention and Control and head of the Vietnam Disaster Management Authority Tran Quang Hoai said that accurate and timely forecasting of weather conditions at sea helps fishermen avoid losses in property and human life, thus helping people secure stable livelihoods.
Forecasting activities also help the committee as well as search and rescue, the marine police force, and ministries, sectors, and localities give active directions to minimise risks from natural disasters, he said.
