Katrinas troubled waters the rescue workers dilemma

The water level of Nậm Liệp-Minh Lương Stream in the northern mountainous province of Lào Cai rose due to heavy rain. VNA/VNS Photo Hồng Ninh

LÀO CAI — At least three people were killed in a flash flood that swept through Văn Bàn District, in the northern mountainous province of Lào Cai, over the weekend.

The bodies of two people were recovered on Saturday evening, while one remains missing.

The Steering Committee on Natural Disaster Prevention and Control of Văn Bàn District reported that the sudden floods affected 25 households, with furniture, motorbikes and construction materials damaged.

Two houses were swept away and dozens of others were damaged.

Prime Minister Phạm Minh Chính issued a dispatch asking localities to focus resources on dealing with the consequences of floods and heavy rain in the northern mountainous region since Friday.

In the dispatch to the people’s committees of the six northern mountainous provinces of Lai Châu, Yên Bái, Sơn La, Hà Giang and Tuyên Quang, the Central Steering Committee for Flood and Storm Control, National Committee for Disaster Response and Search and Rescue, and relevant ministries and agencies, the PM extended his condolences to families of the victims, and asked the local authorities to help locals fix houses and clean the environment, and provide them with food and essential goods.

He also asked the localities to keep a close watch on developments of flooding and rain, and to review and assess the safety of homes, especially in areas at high risk of flash floods and landslides, while preparing forces, vehicles, and equipment to deal with any circumstances.

The media will continue to provide information on developments of the natural disaster, damage, and response efforts, according to the dispatch.

A super typhoon called Surigae is edging closer to the eastern part of the Philippines.

At 7am on Sunday, it was 400km from the coastal area of the central Philippines.

It is predicted to intensify its power and affect the East Sea (internationally known as South China Sea).

The Central Steering Committee for Flood and Storm Control ordered authorities of coastal localities from Quảng Ninh to Cà Mau to closely follow the typhoon and report the typhoon’s development to ships offshore in the East Sea area. — VNS

NovaWorld Phan Thiet last week opened a part of the exclusive PGA Ocean golf course.

The opening was part of activities to mark the 46th Binh Thuan Province Liberation Day on April 19.

PGA Ocean Golf Course is one of two 18-hole golf courses right inside the 1,000-hectare NovaWorld Phan Thiet complex in the south-central province.

The two are also the only golf courses in Viet Nam to meet the international standards and have exclusive rights from the Professional Golfers’ Association (PGA) to organise the tournaments.

PGA Ocean, built on an area of 88.4 hectares, has a coastal golf course style.

It is one of the longest in Viet Nam with a length of 7,400 yards and a par 72.

The course uses the zeon zoysia and primo zoysia varieties of grasses that do not need much fertilising or watering, which makes the course very environment-friendly.

Designed by legendary Australian golfer Greg Norman, it has a view of Phan Thiet Bay.

The entire golf course complex is expected to be finished in the third quarter of 2021, when it will become one of the top courses in the south of the country.

When it opens, it will promote golf tourism in Viet Nam, attracting a large number of international visitors.

Soon Novaland plans to tie up with the PGA to organise international standard golf training. The training will range from basic to advanced levels to uncover future golf champions.

The PGA will also sponsor exclusive Novaland golf brands.

In addition, Novaland will also collaborate with IMG, a global sports, fashion, events, and media company, to organise international golf tournaments and attract famous stars.

The first will be a friendly event, the 2021 NovaWorld Friendship, played on the day the golf course is inaugurated.

It will become an annual event at NovaWorld Phan Thiet.

Speaking at the opening ceremony, a Novaland executive said: “We hope today’s event will mark the beginning of Vietnamese golfers joining the international golfing community and Phan Thiet becoming an annual destination for professional golfers from around the world.”

A province People’s Committee official said: “Binh Thuan highly appriciates the efforts of strategic investors such as Novaland.They are not only contributing to diversifying tourism products, but also joining hands with local authorities for promoting tourism, training and improving the skills of local workers, providing jobs, and undertaking many other long-term social activities.

Along with phase 1 of the beach park, Florida resort townhouses and coastal food street, the PGA Ocean golf course will complete NovaWorld Phan Thiet.

NovaWorld Phan Thiet is gradually becoming an attractive tourism-health and investment destination, making an enormous contribution to the local economy and raising Viet Nam’s profile in the international resort real estate market.

Phan Thiet is famous for its blue sea, white sand, golden sunshine, and predictable climate all year round.

Spread over an area of ​​1,000 hectares and along a seven-kilometre stretch of coastline, NovaWorld Phan Thiet received consultancy from McKinsey & Company on how to become an attractive destination for shopping, dining, entertainment, education, health, and sport.

Developed at a cost of nearly US$5 billion, it has a myriad unique facilities for the community such as a theme park and water park, 7,000-seat indoor arena for performing arts, the golf course cluster, 3,500-seat tennis arena, 42.195km marathon course, nighttime entertainment center, bikini beach park operated by the famous Finns Beach Club, hospitals, a beauty salon, nursing training schools, restaurants, and hotels.

It also makes Phan Thiet an ideal destination for MICE tourism, health, team building activities, and a summer destination for international students.

Other international events like Olympic sports competitions, kite surfing and beauty, fashion and music contests will also be held here.

Le Tri Thanh, Quang Nam chairman, said Sunday that the central province has sent a draft plan to the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism on welcoming international tourists.

If approved, Quang Nam will become the first province in the country to accept visitors with the so-called Covid-19 vaccine passports.

The plan will have visitors entering Vietnam on tours organized by international travel agencies. Each visitor should have a vaccine passport (documented proof of vaccination) and a certificate from medical agencies showing negative Covid-19 test results.

“We plan to welcome South Korean visitors in the first phase. We will learn from the experience, and in the second phase, we can open to more markets,” Thanh said.

The group of tourists will go on a charter flight to the Chu Lai Airport and be taken straight to resorts in Duy Xuyen District or Nui Thanh District for 5-10 days, not to quarantine facilities.

Chu Lai is slated to become an international airport and be eligible to add necessary equipment to receive charter flights.

Nguyen Thanh Hong, Director of the Quang Nam Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism, said the two resorts were isolated and quite far from residential areas. The staff at these two resorts will be Covid-19 vaccinated and would follow and apply all pandemic prevention measures, he/she said.

Nguyen Van, deputy director of the provincial health department, said the plan to welcome international visitors has been carefully prepared.

“Throughout the transportation process, the visitors will be required to stay in the car with no stops on the way. The pandemic prevention measures at the accommodations will be applied just like a quarantine center.”

On April 15, Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Nguyen Van Hung had said that the ministry plans to reopen international tourism under a roadmap in which the pilot phase from July 2021 to September 2021 will focus on beach tourism and golf tourism in Quang Nam for visitors from the South Korean market.

The ministry’s studies have found that the south of Hoi An area and Chu Lai Airport in Quang Nam Province meet the requirements of safety, transport infrastructure and tourism services as an area for the pilot phase.

The ministry has said that in order to forward the proposal to the prime minister, the Quang Nam administration must review facilities, equipment, human resources and safety requirements; and prepare an official document confirming the province’s readiness to coordinate with the ministry in implementing the plan.

Due to the closure of the borders as a pandemic safety measure, the number of international visitors to Vietnam was just 3.7 million in 2020, down 80 over 2019.

Vietnam stopped all international commercial flights in March 2020. International visitors coming into the country since are mainly experts, high-tech workers, investors and foreigners working on projects in Vietnam.

“We are researching and preparing step by step the pilot selection of a number of markets to apply vaccine passports, welcoming visitors while ensuring safety amid the pandemic,” Hung said.

He also said that his ministry wants the government to apply the vaccine passport policy soon, because it would be key to opening the door for international visitors.

Leading reporters to his closed snail farming area in Cua Tung Town in Quang Tri recently, Phan Van Dung pointed to the pond divided into cells amid a sand field. He said this was just one of his five sweet snail (Babylonia areolata) farms.

He pointed out a cell lined with black canvas, where snails were about to be harvested in several days.

“The price has reached a record high of VND360,000 per kilogram, twice as high as last year. I believe I can earn big money this year,” he said.

In 2005, he built a small hotel with 20 rooms which became the major source of income of his family. Now he earns money from both the hotel and snail farming, but the farming brings much higher revenue.

At first, he hatched shrimp, but he failed many times over five years. In 2016, he decided to breed snails, which he believed would bring high profit and low risks, after half a year of learning farming techniques in the south.

The main feed for snail is fresh shrimp and fish. As his farm is next to the sea, he also buys pompano to feed snails because it is cheap.

He harvested the first crop after 7-8 months and earned a lot from it. The snail price fluctuates between VND170,000 and 400,000 per kilogram.

Dung now runs five snail farms with total surface area of 18 hectares with output of 200 tons per annum. He never takes a loss with snail farming.

The snails sales to Chinese merchants and domestic sales bring total turnover of VND34 billion and profit of VND17 billion.

After showing reporters the ponds containing hundreds of tons of snails, Dung walked to an area with square water tanks and an oxygen conductor system.

The entire area, about one hectare, is used to produce snail breeders, and is divided into different compartments for parent snails to lay spawn and for a spawn hatchery. There is also a compartment to raise snails until they are standard size (40,000-50,000 snails per kilogram) and brought to ponds.

When he began farming snails, he had to buy breeders from other localities at high prices, so the profit was not high. In 2019, he decided to set up a breeder production area to establish a closed snail production line.

Tam Anh – Anh Duc