Context: Recently, Typhoon Molave has slammed into central Vietnam and has set off a series of landslides that buried villages and towns.

About Typhoon Molave

• It one of the biggest storms to hit the country in two decades by bringing a second round of deadly landslides.
• Molave is a Spanish corruption of mulawin, referring to the Vitex parviflora, a species of hard wood used in furniture.
• The name ‘Molave’ is contributed by the Philippines.
• Note: Vietnam is prone to natural disasters in the rainy season between June and November, with central coastal provinces commonly impacted, but the storms have notably worsened in recent years.

Additional Information

• A tropical cyclone is a generic term used by meteorologists to describe a rotating, organized system of clouds and thunderstorms that originates over tropical or subtropical waters and has closed and low-level circulation.
• Once a tropical cyclone reaches maximum sustained winds of 74 miles per hour or higher, it is then classified as a hurricane, typhoon, or tropical cyclone, depending upon where the storm originates in the world.
• In the North Atlantic, central North Pacific, and eastern North Pacific, the term hurricane is used.
• The same type of disturbance in the Northwest Pacific is called a typhoon.
• In the South Pacific and Indian Ocean, the generic term tropical cyclone is used, regardless of the strength of the wind associated with the weather system.
• The ingredients for tropical cyclones include a pre-existing weather disturbance, warm tropical oceans, moisture, and relatively light winds.