of US$420 per capita. The poverty can be attributed to the harsh natural conditions with severe cold in winter and extreme heat in summer, floods and storms every autumn and unfavorable soil and natural resources. A badly-operated district and provincial government is also a hurdle to prosperity. Agriculture, forestry and fishery takes up 35.5 percent of total GDP and the province's GDP accounts for 0.7 percent of Vietnam's GDP. Hà Tĩnh has taken slow steps in economic reforms though better signs in recent times are incentive. Vũng Áng harbour with some plants, factories and a thermal power station is becoming the most active economic hub. Vietnam Steel operates an iron mine in Thạch Khê District, with reserves of 544 million tonnes of iron, which is one of the largest mines in southeast Asia. A US$10 billion iron and steel plant was built in Vũng Áng in the 2010s (see Formosa Ha Tinh Steel Corporation). The steel plant is part of an industrial park, which is estimated to cost more than US$20 billion. When finished in 2020, the industrial park will have a port, a 2,100-MW power plant and a steel plant with six blast furnaces. In 2016, the Formosa Steel plant released untreated waste water with heavy metals and other toxins into the nearby sea, which caused the 2016 Vietnam marine life disaster. History In Sino-Vietnamese characters, the province's name is written as , meaning "quiet river". Beginning in 1930 Hà Tĩnh, along with Nghệ An and Quảng Ngãi, was one of the early grounds for the Vietnamese rural Soviet movement and protests. References External links Hà Tĩnh province People's Committee Poverty alleviation in Hà Tĩnh Province, Vietnam: A public archive of development project documents North Central Coast Gulf of Tonkin Provinces of Vietnam