HANOI, Oct. 6 (Xinhua) -- Vietnam's Department of Natural Disaster Prevention and Control on Thursday urged coastal localities to be active in prevention and combating the upcoming tropical storm Aere.

The country's coastal localities from northern Quang Ninh province to south central Khanh Hoa province together with relevant ministries are asked to get updated on the development of Aere.

At the same time, boats and ships operating in waters off these localities should be informed of position and development of the storm to avoid traveling in dangerous area.

In the coming 48 to 71 hours, Typhoon Aere is said to hardly move but continue to get stronger, said the department on its website.

If hitting Vietnam, the typhoon will be the sixth making landfall on the country so far this year.

In the first nine months of 2016, natural disasters including coldness, floods, storms, tropical depressions, and heavy rains left 125 dead and missing in Vietnam while other 266 were injured.

The economic loss caused by natural disasters reached 10.6 trillion Vietnamese dong (over 470 million U.S. dollars) in Vietnam in the nine-month period, according to the General Statistics Office.