OCHA Situation Report No. 3
Vietnam - Forest Fire
6 May 2002


Event and Impact

1.  A major forest fire that began on 12 April in the 8,000-hectare U Minh
Thuong National Park, in the southern province of Ca Mau, has been burning
for over a month destroying thousands of hectares of forest. The fires had
been mostly contained, due to the efforts of up to 5,000 fire fighters,
but had not been completely extinguished due to extreme drought conditions
and high winds.  The situation worsened again on 4 May with the eruption
of new fires, which reportedly destroyed an additional 1,200 hectares of
vegetation.

2.  Although there has been some rainfall, and seasonal rains are
anticipated at any time, it has thus far been insufficient to extinguish
the fires.  The fire suppression strategy employed to combat the fire has
been effective in containing the spread. Total extinguishment is expected
only with the arrival of the seasonal rains.

3.  The Melaleuca peat forest, representing an environmentally rich
ecosystem (which is protected in many parts of the world), was seriously
damaged. U Minh Thuong Forest is ranked as the world's second richest and
largest mangrove forest, second only to the Amazon rain forest in Brasil.


General Information

4.  Following discussions between the UNDP Hanoi, OCHA Geneva, and the
Global Fire Monitoring Centre, Mr. Bradley Sanders, a fire operations
expert, was deployed to the fire site on 20 April 2002.  From 20-26 April,
Mr. Sanders conducted an assessment of the fire response and identified
primary humanitarian and ecological impacts arising from the fire.  He
arrived at a number of recommendations and conclusions, as summarised
below.

5.  The expert reported that the fire response and fire fighting strategy
were appropriate to the situation and successful in containing the spread
and limiting further damage.

6.  Human impacts for those living outside the park are confined primarily
to dealing with the smoke generated by the fire and from impacts on common
use areas within the park.  There are also cases of salt-water intrusion
from the canals within the park to freshwater wells of those living within
the park.

7.  Ecological impacts from the fires are significant.  In particular,
massive destruction and loss of some 30% of the Metaleuca peat forest
representing a loss of habitat for deer, wild pigs, monkeys and hundreds
of bird species, and loss in biodiversity

8.  OCHA remains in close contact with the office of the United Nations
Resident Co-ordinator in Hanoi.

9.  This situation report, together with further information on ongoing
emergencies, is also available on the OCHA Internet Website at
http://www.reliefweb.int


Telephone: +41-22-91712 34
Fax: +41-22-917 00 23
E-mail: ochagva@un.org

In case of emergency only: Tel. +41-22-917 20 10

Desk Officers:
  Ms. M. Spaak / Ms. P. Charlebois
  Direct Tel. +41-22-917 1728 / 1815

Press contact:
  (GVA)  Ms. Elizabeth Byrs, direct Tel. +41-22-917 26 56
  (NYC)  Ms. Phyllis Lee, direct Tel. +1-212-963 48 32


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