A plane filled with emergency assistance provided by the Association of Southeast Nations (ASEAN) for the Vietnamese victims of Typhoon Damrey arrived in south-central Khanh Hoa Province on Thursday.
The Raya Airways plane departing from the ASEAN Coordinating Center for Humanitarian Assistance on Disaster Management (AHA) in Malaysia touched down at Khanh Hoa’s Cam Ranh airport around noon.
According to an AHA representative, the US$175,000 shipment included 600 family kits, 3,000 toilet sets, 1,000 home repair kits, and one aluminum canoe powered by a Yahama 40HP engine.
The emergency goods will be distributed to people in the storm-hit provinces of Khanh Hoa, Phu Yen, Quang Ngai, and Binh Dinh.
Typhoon Damrey is Vietnam’s deadliest storm so far this year, killing at least 106 and leaving hundreds more injured after hitting south-central Vietnam on November 4.
The heavy flooding that followed days of downpour cut off parts of the region, leading to a shortage of clean water, sanitation, and hygiene for affected residents.
Typhoon Damrey relief provided by ASEAN is unloaded from a Raya Airways plane that landed at Cam Ranh airport in Khanh Hoa Province on November 16, 2017. Photo: Tuoi Tre
Last Friday, the U.S. Embassy in Hanoi announced that over $1 million in emergency assistance and longer-term disaster risk reduction support to Vietnam would be provided to help the country respond to the impacts of Typhoon Damrey and future disasters.
South Korea has also pledged to provide a $1 million aid package to support those affected by the typhoon, its foreign ministry announced the same day.
Russian President Vladimir Putin provided Vietnam with $5 million in monetary support and 40 metric tons of goods to help the country in its relief efforts.
New Zealand’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters pledged a government aid package of $500,000 for Damrey relief during a meeting with his Vietnamese counterpart Pham Binh Minh on November 9.
According to Tran Quang Hoai, director general of Vietnam’s Directorate for Disaster Prevention, this is the second time of the year ASEAN had provided aid to regions affected by natural disasters in Vietnam.
In early, the bloc sent relief to the mountainous areas of northern Vietnam that were hit with flash floods and landslides.
ASEAN is a social, economic and political organization whose members include Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.
Source: Tuoi Tre News