Natural hazards include rare earthquakes and occasional typhoons (May to January) with extensive flooding, especially in the Mekong River delta Almost every year, Vietnam is devastated by storms, floods, and typhoons that kill hundreds of people and cause millions of dollars of damage. The problem created by disasters has been exacerbated by logging, erosion, and overdevelopment. The Vietnamese army is often put to work doing repair work, fixing dikes, laying sandbags and providing relief and emergency supplies.
- An average of 430 people was killed each year by natural disasters between 2007-2011 in Vietnam, with property losses estimated at 1 percent of the gross domestic product, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung told a conference on food security and climate change in Hanoi.
- In 2008, natural disasters killed 550 people in Vietnam and caused damage amounting to more than 700 million dollars. In 2004, natural disasters killed 232 people and left 38 missing, injured 187 others, destroyed 4,200 houses and 3,000 hectares of rice, and killed over 2,000 cattle and 170,000 poultry in Vietnam, causing a property loss of over 57 million dollars. [Source: Xinhua, October 12, 2005]
- Vietnam's long 3,200-kilometers coastline is battered every year by up to 10 storms, killing hundreds, even thousands of people. Some meteorologist predicts that global warming will bring more rain to the region more rain, stronger typhoons, and higher sea levels and make the flooding problem worse.
