HO CHI MINH CITY, July 8 (Xinhua) -- Vietnam will build five new weather radar stations in its northern and central regions to provide better forecast about storms, thunderstorms and heavy rain, according to the National Center for Hydro-meteorological Forecasting on Sunday.
The stations will be constructed in northern Dien Bien province, northern Phu Tho province, central Binh Dinh province, central Khanh Hoa province, and central highlands Gia Lai province, and equipped with new-generation dual polarization Doppler weather radars.
Vietnam is likely to face 12-14 storms and tropical depressions this year, the center forecast.
In the country in the first half of this year, natural disasters, mainly floods and landslides, killed or left missing 33 people and injured 47 others, destroyed or damaged 15,000 houses, and damaged nearly 11,000 hectares of rice and other crops, causing property losses of over 808 billion Vietnamese dong (35.6 million U.S. dollars), according to its General Statistics Office.
