The Latest on Southeast Asia: Typhoon Kajiki Updates

Typhoon Kajiki began as a tropical depression over the Philippines on August 22. The storm, initially anticipated to be as severe as the devastating Typhoon Yagi in 2024, proceeded to develop into a typhoon after stirring over the South China Sea, skirting China’s Hainan province before hitting Vietnam the hardest.  

On August 24, just 24 hours before Kajiki made landfall in Vietnam, the country evacuated over half a million people as it braced for its fifth tropical storm of the year. Over 16,500 soldiers and 107,000 paramilitary forces were on standby to aid disaster relief efforts. Yet the storm diverged from weather forecasts, moving slowly into Ha Tinh province, with heavy rainfall extending as far as Hanoi.  

Kajiki struck Vietnam’s north central coast on August 25, bringing severe weather and causing at least seven deaths. An additional 34 Vietnamese citizens were injured and one remains missing. In nearby Thailand, five people were killed and seven people went missing, with an unspecified number of injuries. The storm caused severe flooding and landslides over the course of eight hours, impacting more than 10,000 homes in Vietnam and 180 households in Thailand. Kajiki’s severity also damaged electricity poles, which caused a power blackout in Vietnam’s Ha Tinh and Nghe An provinces, directly impacting 1.6 million people. Vietnam experienced considerable agricultural losses, including damaging over 200,000 acres of rice paddy, killing almost 2,000 livestock and poultry, and felling around 21,000 trees.  

In Kajiki’s aftermath, Vietnamese prime minister Pham Minh Chinh has called for mass recovery efforts across the country. After extending condolences to the families of the deceased and missing, Chinh urged local authorities in Thanh Hoa, Nghe An, and Ha Tinh provinces to provide immediate relief. The provincial governments are responsible for providing essential supplies for displaced households as well as repairing damaged schools and hospitals by August 30. But the storm’s destruction is far from over, with Vietnamese officials warning communities of more flash flooding and mudslides to come. 

Lauren Mai is a Program Coordinator and Research Assistant for the Southeast Asia Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington, D.C. For more political, economic, and security analysis on the region, check out our blog series, The Latest on Southeast Asia. To hear the latest news on the region and hear from Southeast Asia experts, listen and subscribe to the Southeast Asia Radio podcast on any streaming platform.