Thua Thien-Hue sets up council to evaluate pollution damage from Formosa

By Toan Dao   July 3, 2016 | 03:43 am PT
Thua Thien-Hue has decided to establish a council to assess the damage caused to the province by Taiwanese steel company Formosa after the firm was officially named the culprit behind the mass fish deaths.

Thua Thien- Hue is one of the four provinces in central Vietnam negatively affected by Formosa’s illegal discharge of toxic wastewater into the sea. The other localities included Ha Tinh, Quang Tri and Quang Binh.

The 16-member council will be led by Vice Chairman of Thua Thien- Hue People’s Committee Nguyen Van Phuong, the government portal said in a statement on Sunday.

The council will be in charge of assigning tasks, forming support teams and instructing lower level councils to calculate the exact damage from the environmental disaster.

Selling fish by the sea. Photo by Tran Quy/VnExpress Photo Contest.

Selling fish by the sea. Photo by Tran Quy/VnExpress Photo Contest.

In addition, the council will look at how to recover from the disaster and stabilize local production based on the respective regulations and situations in each locality, and then report back to the central government.

The council must ensure accuracy, transperancy and fairness in its damage assessment and will be disbanded once the task is complete.

Ha Tinh Province formed its own council on June 30.

Formosa has apologized to Vietnam and pledged to pay $500 million in compensation for the environmental pollution it caused in central Vietnam.

In early April, large quantities of fish washed up dead near the Vung Ang Economic Zone in Ha Tinh Province. The disaster stretched 200 kilometers along the central Vietnamese coast, as far south as Thua Thien-Hue, resulting in the death of more than 70 tons of sea fish and 35 tons of farm-raised fish. Especially hard hit were Ha Tinh, Quang Tri, Quang Binh and Thua Thien Hue provinces where thousands of fishermen lost customers or were forced to sell at a loss.

Related news:

> Formosa: a costly precedent for Vietnam

> Ha Tinh forms council to assess damage caused by Formosa

> How Formosa’s $500 mln compensation will be distributed

 
 
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