Storms and floods resistant house designs have been researched, published, and widely applied (16/12/2025)

Head of the Office and Spokesperson of the Ministry of Construction Nguyen Tri Duc answers reporters' questions - Photo: VGP/QP

Responding to reporters' questions about which flood-resistant house designs have currently been approved for standardized implementation, as well as where construction materials such as cement and steel, and labor will be prioritized to ensure progress given the Prime Minister's requirement that by January 31st, 2026, a total of 1,628 houses destroyed by natural disasters must be rebuilt for affected residents, Mr. Nguyen Tri Duc, Head of the Office and Spokesperson of the Ministry of Construction, stated that in 2014, the Prime Minister issued Decision No. 48/2014/QĐ-TTg on policies to support poor households in building houses for storm and flood prevention in the Central region. The policy applies to 13 provinces and cities in the North Central and South Central Coast regions.

Subsequently, on October 23rd, 2014, the Ministry of Construction issued Circular No. 16/2014/TT-BXD, which requires local authorities to study and design at least three typical flood- and storm-resistant housing models, ensuring minimum criteria for floor area and construction quality, and storms and floods prevention; introduce and present these designs for residents' reference and selection, without mandating households to build strictly according to the standard designs.

In addition to standard designs, local authorities also provide specific guidance for cases involving renovation or elevation, such as adding raised floors to homes for storm and flood prevention. In compliance with these regulations, all localities have designed and publicly announced at least three models, with some provinces offering up to six to eight designs (such as Hue and Thanh Hoa). These housing designs are published on the websites of the local Departments of Construction.

At the same time, the Ministry of Construction has researched and implemented a system of safe housing design templates for disaster prevention and response over the period 2007-2023. These have been published on the portal of the National Institute of Architecture and include 176 designs that can be immediately used by local authorities. The designs cover various types, such as: typical houses for disaster-prone regions (the Central region and the Mekong Delta); houses resistant to storms, flash floods, and landslides; rural houses tailored to different regions; and houses adapted to climate change and sea-level rise.

The above designs were developed based on studies of natural conditions, cultural practices, and disaster characteristics in affected areas, ensuring compliance with current technical codes and standards and meeting all requirements for practical application. Many localities have adopted these design templates as key reference materials to guide house design, renovation, and the implementation of housing support programs for storm and flood prevention (including Dak Lak, Ha Tinh, Quang Tri, and Phu Yen prior to administrative consolidation).

In addition, for the six localities (before the merger) including Thanh Hoa, Quang Binh, Thua Thien Hue, Quang Nam, Quang Ngai, and Ca Mau, participating in Component 1 - Support for building storm and flood-resistant houses under the Project " "Enhancing Climate Resilience of Vulnerable Coastal Communities in Viet Nam" funded by the Green Climate Fund (GCF) through the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), with integrated funding to enhance storm-resilience features for poor households eligible for support under the Prime Minister's Decision No. 48/2014/QĐ-TTg dated August 28, 2014.

In practice, houses built in accordance with the above-mentioned standard designs have proven to be safe and resilient to storms and floods. However, in recent years, storms and flooding have occurred in most localities nationwide with far greater complexity and severity, making it necessary to develop new flood- and storm-resistant housing designs that are better suited to actual situation.

Therefore, the Ministry of Construction has proposed that the People's Committees of the provinces instruct their Departments of Construction and relevant agencies to coordinate with the National Institute of Architecture (Ministry of Construction) to review the topographical characteristics of each region, in order to appropriately adapt, select, and apply suitable design templates in accordance with the guidance set out in Official Dispatch No. 234/CĐ-TTg dated November 30, 2025, issued by the Prime Minister. Implementation should be closely aligned with construction planning, rural planning, and regional planning to ensure long-term safety, rather than merely addressing immediate needs.

Supplies such as cement and steel will be prioritized for mobilization to ensure progress, from agencies, organizations, businesses, localities, and the entire political system, to implement the Prime Minister's directive in Official Dispatch 234/CĐ-TTg, ensuring that all citizens have housing and can enjoy the Lunar New Year.

Regarding planning, based on the national master plan, in 2021 the Ministry of Transport (now the Ministry of Construction) organized the comprehensive and synchronized preparation of national sectoral plans for five transport sectors: road; maritime and inland waterways; rail; and aviation, in order to maintain the strengths of each mode of transport and maximize the operational efficiency of the country's entire transport system. At that time, climate change and sea-level rise scenarios developed by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment were incorporated into these plans.

Under the five approved plans, the Central and Central Highlands regions are planned as follows:(1) Road transport: 11 expressways with a total length of nearly 1,500 km, and 24 key national highways totaling more than 4,400 km, facilitating connectivity across major economic corridors;(2) Aviation: 14 airports are planned for the Central and Central Highlands regions;(3) Maritime: 14 seaports comprising 89 port areas and terminals, 208 berths with total length of 36,923 meters;(4) Inland waterways: 27 inland waterway transport routes with a total length of 1,263 km; (5) Railways: 1,332 km of the North-South railway line runs through the region.

Regarding investment, the operation of transport infrastructure construction projects has demonstrated positive effectiveness, showing that technical solutions based on the assessment and analysis of hydrological, oceanographic, and climatic data series are generally appropriate. Most projects have long operational lifespans, ensuring the sustainability of the infrastructure system and maximizing investment efficiency.

However, due to abnormal weather changes particularly in the Central region, such as strong storms, heavy rainfall, and flooding, incidents have occurred at certain locations, such as road sections being inundated when flood peaks exceeded historical levels, or slope failures affecting transportation as well as rescue and emergency response operations. The Ministry of Construction has proactively carried out urgent tasks to remedy these incidents, promptly repairing and restoring infrastructure to ensure continuous and smooth traffic flow. At the same time, the Ministry has actively coordinated with relevant ministries, sectors, and local authorities in rescue efforts and in supporting affected residents to quickly return to normal life after natural disasters, thereby contributing to ensuring social welfare.

Minister and Head of the Government Office Tran Van Son, Government Spokesperson, chaired the regular Government press conference in November 2025 - Photo: VGP/QP

Regarding housing for people to celebrate the Lunar New Year, there are two milestones. First, for the repair of more than 34,000 houses, the deadline is December 31st; and for the construction of more than 1,600 new houses, the deadline is before January 31st, 2026. The Government throughly discussed the matter, and the Prime Minister assigned tasks to all ministries, sectors, local authorities, socio-political organizations, and even enterprises to ensure that these two milestones can be achieved.

Regarding to house designs, as the representative of the Ministry of Construction shared, some localities have three designs, others have six; overall, we currently have a total of 176 designs.