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The Government yesterday put the nation on high alert for a powerful typhoon that is on a path toward the country’s coastline and is forecast to pound central provinces.

Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung sent an emergency telegram to ministries, provincial authorities, flood and storm control agencies, rescue forces, weather bureaus, other relevant organizations and the media, alerting them to Typhoon Cimaron, which slammed into Luzon north of the Philippines on Sunday night.

The telegram urges the early deployment of plans to cushion the possible impact of the typhoon on provinces from Quang Binh to Khanh Hoa, and the mobilization of resources to call back fishing boats still at sea or help them find safe shelters.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is tasked with coordinating with other ministries to monitor the latest developments of the typhoon, the seventh calamity to hit the country this year, and timely send diplomatic notes to regional countries to solicit their help for Vietnamese fishing vessels and fishermen to take shelter.

The prime minister called on the provinces that are predicted to be hit by the typhoon to urgently map out plans to evacuate residents from areas where the typhoon might roar through and low-lying areas where flash floods and landslides might happen.

Deputy Prime Minister Truong Vinh Trong has been sent to the central region to work with the Central Steering Committee for Flood and Storm Control and provinces to deploy emergency plans.

The committee yesterday activated a command in Danang, the central coast city which was hardest hit by Typhoon Xangsane a month ago, to coordinate storm and flood control activities.

Speaking at a meeting of the committee yesterday, Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Sinh Hung told provinces to promptly evacuate people living along rivers, coastal areas and landslide-prone areas to higher ground and complete all the evacuations before 5:00 p.m. on Thursday.

Danang and Quang Ngai authorities yesterday called emergency meetings to prepare for the worst.

Cimaron roared through Luzon, the Philippines’ most populated island and rice bowl, on Sunday night as a maximum category five storm — technically the same strength as Hurricane Katrina that devastated New Orleans in 2005.

The central weather bureau said yesterday afternoon that with packing winds of about 166 km per hour, Cimaron was moving west and west-southwest toward the Vietnamese coastline at a speed of 10 to 15 km per hour within the next 24 to 48 hours.

The center of the typhoon is forecast to be some 120 km east of Hoang Sa (Paracel) islands at 1:00 p.m. tomorrow  after it strengthens today.

Due to the impact of the typhoon, waves north of and in the middle of the Eastern Sea are projected to be 10 to 12 meters high.

Typhoon Xangsane left 76 people dead or missing and injured 532 others, and caused losses of VND10.4 trillion (US$647 million), with Danang and Thua Thien-Hue and Quang Nam provinces bearing the brunt of the damages.