The death toll from typhoon Mirinae hit116, the Central Steering Committee for Storm and Flood Preventionreported on November 7.

The central province of Phu Yen was hardest hit, losing 73 people tothe disaster, followed by Binh Dinh with 22, and Khanh Hoa, 13.

Seven people, all in Phu Yen province, remain missing and 125 others reportedly injured, the committee said.

Asset damages from the typhoon, the 11 th that hit Vietnam so far, wereinitially estimated to stand at nearly 5 trillion VND.

Local authorities, central agencies, and the armed forces continue todeploy relief aid services and rescue activities in the affectedprovinces.

The same day, Party General Secretary Nong Duc Manh and Deputy PrimeMinister Hoang Trung Hai inspected storm losses in the central coastalprovince of Khanh Hoa .

Manh asked the province to revise the planning of residential areas andbuild concrete houses to provide safe shelters for people in case offloods and storms.

Besides, the party leader also asked Khanh Hoa to pay special attentionto protect upstream and protective forests and build irrigation worksto both ensure water resource and prevent floods.

The provincial authorities asked the Government to invest more inimproving weather forecasting capacity and supply the armed forces andlocalities with more modern search and rescue equipment to enable themto proactively carry out rescue activities.

The Khanh Hoa visit is part of the party chief’s working tour of the southern central provinces./.