UN, Save the Children help raise $40 mln for flood-hit communities

Vietnam Floods Response, launched in consultation with the government, seeks to raise $40 million.

The plan would address both immediate humanitarian needs and early rehabilitation activities, U.N. Vietnam announced on Wednesday.

U.N. Resident Coordinator Kamal Malhotra said, "They need immediate life-saving assistance now, as well as recovery support to help them rebuild their lives and livelihoods."

Earlier an assessment had been done by the government, the U.N. and Vietnamese NGOs in the five most affected provinces, Quang Binh, Quang Tri, Thua Thien Hue, Quang Nam, and Quang Ngai.

It identified the need to provide multi-sectoral assistance to the most vulnerable people there. An estimated 153,000 children are also at risk of discontinuing learning due to damage to schools and lack of sanitation and devices for online learning.

Humanitarian support is also required at shelters that currently lack basic needs including clean water and sanitation, putting people at risk of diseases.

The government wants all relief efforts targeted at the most vulnerable people including women, households headed by women, children, people with disabilities, older people, and poor and near-poor people.

Malhotra said: "Many people were already under the economic stress created by the second wave of Covid-19, which hit central Vietnam in late July. These floods have left people devastated.

"Once immediate life-saving needs are addressed, we must prioritize the humanitarian-development nexus to help the poorest and most vulnerable people recover, while supporting all communities in Vietnam to become more climate-resilient and resilient than ever before."

The Floods Response Plan is focused on delivering immediate, life-saving assistance in support of the government response and in line with the government’s request for assistance.

It will help repair key public service infrastructure in affected provinces and ensure adequate availability of food and drinking water, sanitation, hygiene supplies, and basic medicines.

It will ensure the most vulnerable people, including women and children, elderly people, persons with disabilities, and LGBT persons, are protected from violence and have equal access to humanitarian assistance and services without discrimination.

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

An estimated 1.5 million people have been affected by torrential rains, widespread flooding and landslides triggered by five storms that hit central Vietnam in October.

So far 235 people have been killed or reported missing, almost 390,000 houses were flooded and more than 300,000 families were evacuated, according to the Vietnam Disaster Management Authority.

Many people in the affected areas have lost almost all their household possessions or have had their homes, food stocks, livestock, and crops heavily damaged, with the most vulnerable people bearing the brunt.

Storm Molave, which swept central Vietnam last week, was one of the most powerful to hit the nation in 20 years, inflicting damages worth around VND10 trillion ($430.16 million), according to affected provinces.