The information was released by the Vietnam Telecommunications Company (VTC) at a press conference in Hanoi on December 24.

The launch is part of VTC’s implementation of the national strategies for natural disaster prevention, response and mitigation and sustainable development.

VTC14 aims to raise public awareness of the impact of natural disasters, epidemics, and environmental pollution as well as to provide them with information and knowledge to prevent and mitigate the disaster effectively.

The channel will provide up-to-date information on weather, the environment, traffic, health care and the party, state and government’s policies on natural disaster prevention and mitigation.

According to statistics from international organisations, Vietnam suffers the loss of about 5.5 percent of its GDP every year due to natural disasters, epidemics, traffic accidents and environmental damage.