~ Le Viêt Nam, aujourd'hui. ~
The Vietnam News

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Vietnam evacuates as Typhoon Durian approaches

HANOI - Vietnam prepared Sunday to evacuate at least 50,000 people in south-central coastal regions ahead of Typhoon Durian, which had previously ravaged the Philippines. Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung on Sunday sent out an urgent order to provinces to call in Vietnamese fishing boats and prepare for mass evacuations. The killer typhoon had weakened a bit from the 195-kilometer-per- hour winds when it hit the Philippines on Thursday, but on Sunday still packed winds of up to 150 kilometers per hour and was expected to hit south and central Vietnam on Monday night, officials said.

"This is an extremely dangerous typhoon," said Bui Minh Tang, director of Vietnam's National Hydrometeorology Forecast Center. "When it hits the shore, the wind speed may be around 118 kilometers per hour." Military forces were on call in southern Khanh Hoa and Phu Yen provinces, roughly 1,200 kilometers south of Hanoi, to aid in any evacuations, officials said. The brunt of the killer storm was expected to pass south of the tourist centre of Danang, which saw at least 46 people killed in October in Typhoon Xangsane.

Deutsche Presse Agentur - December 3, 2006.