5 killed, 3 missing due to floods, landslides in Vietnam

At least five people lost their lives and three others went missing in floods and landslides that were caused due to incessant rain since the past few days in the Southeast Asian country, authorities said on Friday.

Quoting the country's National Committee for Disaster Response and Search and Rescue, Xinhua news agency reported that the floods and landslides have so far claimed three lives in central Ha Tinh province, one in central Quang Binh province and one in northern Lao Cai province.

A recent tropical depression has resulted in heavy rains in the central provinces of the country, causing partial flooding in many localities, the committee said.

Between January and August, natural disasters, mainly typhoons, flash floods, whirlwinds and landslides in Vietnam left 75 people dead or missing, injured 77 others, destroyed 685 houses, damaged over 19,000 other houses and 36,800 hectares of rice and other crops, causing economic losses of around 2,200 billion Vietnamese dong (95.6 million U.S. dollars), according to the country's General Statistics Office.

According to the United Nations Development Program, Vietnam faces at least six or seven typhoons every year on average.