Vietnam braces for Typhoon Cimaron
HANOI - Vietnam has told its fishermen to head for land and readied evacuation plans for about 120,000 people as Typhoon Cimaron barrelled towards its coast after killing at least six people in the Philippines.
"It is a strong and dangerous typhoon and we must be ready to evacuate all people living in low-lying areas," Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Sinh Hung warned on state television Tuesday as local residents reinforced their homes.
Vietnam's seventh typhoon this year was expected to hit land on Thursday or Friday, and authorities were making plans to relocate 50,000 people in central Thua Thien-Hue province and 68,000 in neighbouring Quang Nam.
"Thousands of police and soldiers have been mobilized to help people get ready for the typhoon," said Van Phu Chinh, director of the central committee on flood and storm control in Danang city.
Le Van Thao of Vietnam's national meteorological centre said Tuesday afternoon the typhoon was about 1,000 kilometres (620 miles) east of Vietnam, with thousands of Vietnamese fishermen still at sea.
"We are asking them to return to land or seek shelter by heading north or south," he said.
Central Vietnam is still recovering from Typhoon Xangsane, which killed more than 70 people and injured more than 520 when it slammed into the region late last month, bringing flash floods and landslides.
Cimaron late Sunday hit the Philippines' main island of Luzon, packing winds of up to 230 kilometers (143 miles) per hour and torrential rain, and moved across the island on Monday, killing six people and leaving two missing.
The Philippine weather bureau said Tuesday Cimaron was now charting a course across the South China Sea towards Vietnam but had weakened, with gusts of up to 150 kilometres per hour.
Agence France Presse - October 31, 2006.
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