VIETNAM: Vietnam flood victims evacuate to higher ground as rescue and relief work continues

Flood victims in central Vietnam flee to higher ground as rescue and relief work continues to help people marooned due to the worst floods in decades. A typhoon followed by floods and landslides killed up to 34 people in Vietnam, cut power and closed roads in some of the worst flooding in decades. The government storm prevention committee said that at least 19 people were missing in the aftermath of typhoon Lekima which slammed the central provinces on Wednesday night. Thanh Hoa and Nghe An provinces were hit hardest by torrential rains, strong winds blowing off roofs and floods submerging entire villages. "There has never been a historic and heavy flood like this since 1945. The residents have made a safety sub-floor to avoid the floods but it's no use as the water is too high, so their property and belongings are damaged," said Pham Dang Khoa, Deputy Party Chief of Thch Thanh District of Thanh Hoa Province. In August a storm and subsequent floods killed nearly 80 people in several central provinces. At the time, officials said hundreds of thousands faced food shortages. On Saturday (October 6), helicopters dropped food to stranded villagers as rescuers waded through chest-high water to help people to safety. A dyke on the Buoi river in Thanh Hoa broke, causing extensive flooding, a government report said. On Friday, officials said that police and soldiers helped move about 22,000 people to higher ground away from a dam in the same province. Many people could be seen on the roofs of houses drying food and their possessions, as they sought refuge from floodwaters. A crowd of people had gathered on a dyke after their houses were flooded. "My father has ben ill since February and he usually has to stay in bed, but when the floods came we first had to move him to a dyke, then the water kept passing though dangerously so we moved him onto the rooftop. It was so hot that he couldn't stay there. We had to move him to this place. It's miserable," said the daughter of an old man. Officials said they were having difficulty providing emergency supplies to thousands of people. The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies was also providing assistance. "We experience huge difficulties, I appeal to people throughout the country, to sponsors and International Organisation to do anything that could help the Thach Thanh people to overcome this disaster," said Pham Dang Khoa, Deputy Party Chief of Thach Thanh District in Thanh Hoa Province. The government said preliminary damages from the typhoon, the fifth of 2007, stood at 659 billion dong (41 million U.S. dollars). The storm and floods destroyed about 100,000 homes mainly in central provinces and 15,000 ha of rice crops. The three-month flood and storm season oftenthis month in Vietnam, which faces up to 10 storms a year, causing millions of dollars in damage and killing hundreds of people.

ITN Source | October 7, 2007

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