International organizations pledge aid for central Vietnam flood victims

Flooding and landslides triggered by prolonged and heavy downpours have killed at least 105 and left 27 missing over the last two weeks.

The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) will provide Thua Thien-Hue Province with 50 water purifiers and 250 plastic sheets immediately, Nguyen Hoang Hiep, Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, said at a meeting Monday, Voice of Vietnam reported.

This was part of Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga's commitment to provide immediate disaster relief for Vietnam to cope with the recent flooding in the central region.

PM Suga wrapped up a three-day official visit to Vietnam Tuesday.

The first batch of JICA’s aid arrived at the Da Nang Airport on Monday.

The intergovernmental ASEAN Coordinating Center for Humanitarian Assistance on disaster management (AHA Center) has donated 1,000 shelter repair kits and 1,300 kitchen sets to Vietnam to address the immediate needs of vulnerable communities in areas most affected by the flooding.

The United Nations Development Program and Save the Children Vietnam have pledged or mobilized $100,000 each towards helping central Vietnam deal with the historic flooding.

Last Saturday, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) also provided $100,000 to the Vietnam Red Cross Society (VNRC) for addressing the needs of vulnerable communities in areas most affected by tropical storm Linfa, the sixth storm tropical storm to hit Vietnam in 2020 that made landfall on October 11.

Prior to Storm Linfa, the central region had already suffered several days of severe flooding, resulting from a combination of a cold spell moving down from the north and an intertropical convergence zone stretching from the Indian Ocean to the Philippines