Probably not making the news in the west, but there are some pretty serious floods in central Vietnam going on at the minute, particularly in Ha Tinh, Nghe An and Quang Binh provinces. Current estimates are that some 200,000 houses have been swept away, 142,000 people have been displaced and upwards of 50 people killed. I'm hearing from my NGO-worker friends that 100% of crops in Ha Tinh have been destroyed.
As you can well imagine, everybody in Hanoi is mobilising towards the relief effort. I spent yesterday evening with a few Vietnamese friends bagging up donations to be sent to the central provinces this weekend. This included clothes, food and soap, and the mountain of donations more than covered the hallway of my friends' house and spilled onto the street, with more arriving all the time.Far too busy to take photographs, suffice it to say that it was a worthwhile few hours when I couldn't help but smile at how compassionate, caring, earnest and hardworking my Vietnamese friends are. I know the best kind of people.
SarahHeadsEast xx
2 comments:
Yes did know about the floods and have followed the story but only by logging on to Kantipur news (Kathmandu). How western centric are we here in Whitley Bay? Had worked out where the worst problem was and am delighted, heartned and not really surprised by the efforts of Ha Noians and Saigonese too.Seems to be typical of the third world mentality.Well done you and your friends.
and I also read the clearest reports on Aljazeera. hmm. anyway great day with the donations. How great people are here. xxxxxxxxx
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