Woman receives nine cents in storm aid

Nguyen Thi Kim Truyen, 51, on Friday said she had received an invitation by authorities of Tam Vinh Commune on Thursday to visit the local cultural house, about two kilometers from her home, to receive financial aid following storm damage back in 2020.

After spending three hours in the afternoon awaiting her turn, Truyen asked if a friend could receive the money in her stead. In the evening, the friend returned with a mere VND2,000.

"I was shocked; I spent an entire afternoon only to get VND2,000. If only the commune told me about the amount of money beforehand so I could decide whether to go or not," she said, adding the cash was not even enough to cover the fuel cost.

Huynh Thi Thu Van, deputy chairwoman of Tam Vinh Commune, said around 10 square meters of Truyen's banana plantation suffered 70 percent damage. With every hectare of damaged equal to VND4 million in support, Truyen should have received VND4,000. But due to the commune's current policies on providing near half the support money, the amount was reduced to VND2,000, Van said.

She added that following the impacts of two storms in 2020, around 588 families had seen their crops damaged, receiving over VND1 billion in support. One family received VND47 million, 31 received below VND10,000, while Truyen's family received the least.

While Truyen's case has been processed in accordance with existing regulations, Van said authorities would learn from the incident and inform people of the compensation amount beforehand.

Fourteen storms and tropical depressions appeared over the South China Sea in 2020. Storms Linfa and Molave in particular wrecked central Vietnam, killing hundreds and damaging hundreds of thousands of homes.