Floods and landslides caused by heavy rains have killed 36 lives, left 23 missing, and injured 13 in Vietnam's central region over the past four days, the country's Central Steering Committee on Flood and Storm Prevention said on Sunday.  

The floods and landslides have also inundated around 10,000 houses, and nearly 8,000 hectares of cereal crops in the five central localities of Thua Thien Hue, Quang Binh, Quang Tri, Quang Nam and Da Nang, causing total property losses of nearly 205 billion Vietnamese dong (US$13 million).

Water levels in some rivers are going down slowly, but the sea is still encroaching on the mainland in central Quang Nam Province, the committee said, noting that dozens of hectares of residential and cultivated land near its coastal estuaries have been swept away into the sea.

Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung paid working visits to Thua Thien Hue and Quang Nam on Sunday, instructing the localities to intensify fight against floods, and deal with their effects on local residents.

Cash, rice, instant noodles, seeds and seedlings have been given to flood-hit people in the five localities by central and local organizations. A helicopter has been mobilized to conduct rescue and relief activities.

Natural disasters has killed around 9,000 people and caused combined property losses of some US$4 billion in Vietnam since 1991, said the committee.

(Xinhua News Agency November 29, 2004)