English Transcript

Cập nhật 01/10/2008 15:24:00

The Red Cross in Vietnam says up to a million people could be affected by Typhoon Hagu-pit which caused flash flooding and landslides. The typhoon killed more than 40 people were killed and now, as the water levels recede, the Vietnamese military and international aid agencies are assessing the damage done to households and crops. The typhoon struck as farmers prepare to bring in the rice harvest in around a month's time - and relief workers say food will be a priority for the rescue effort.

Presenter: Liam Cochrane
Speakers: Dang Van Tao, head of disaster management, International Federation of Red Cross delegation, Vietnam; Tran Van Tuan, manager, National Disaster Mitigation Partnership, Vietnam

COCHRANE: In the north of Vietnam, soldiers and aid workers are using boats and trucks to reach people affected by Typhoon Hagupit, with five people still reported missing. Tran Van Tuan is the manager of the National Disaster Mitigation Partnership, between the Vietnam government and international organisations. He said the survivors will be categorised according to their level of need, but the top priority will be getting food to those who have nothing.

TUAN: The first priority for the government of Vietnam is to ensure that nobody will be hungry, so we provide food until they can have some other income activity so to provide food themselves and we will provide some seed to replant the crop later.

COCHRANE: The typhoon didn't affect the major rice crop in the south or coffee growing areas of the Highlands, but it did wipe out much of the local rice paddy that would have been harvested next month.

Dang Van Tao, is the head of the disaster management program of the International Federation of Red Cross delegation in Vietnam. He just returned from Bac Giang province, one of three provinces hardest hit by the typhoon.

International aid organisations are also helping, with the Red Cross providing clean water, instant noodles and one thousand household kits to families who lost their homes. He said some desperate farmers were trying to salvage what rice they could from under the flood-damaged paddy fields.

TAO: I also saw the farmer who are to clean the rice tree, dig them up from the rice with the hope that they can save some rice for the little income.

COCHRANE: But it's not just crops that were destroyed. More than 1,000 houses were washed away in flash floods, and another 10,000 homes were flooded, but the Mr Tao from the Red Cross said the impact could be far greater.

TAO: In Bac Giang there are about 500,000 affected by this flood, and [more] in other provinces, so the number of people affected may be over one million people.

COCHRANE: He said relief efforts have been hampered by a lack of road access to people stranded by floods and landslides.

TAO: Yesterday or before yesterday its very difficult to reach them, so the only way in Bac Giang is use a boat to meet the people in the area.

COCHRANE: But Mr Tao from the Red Cross says that, with the floodwater receding, the military is ready to begin shifting emergency supplies further into the community.

TAO: And today we hope the flood recedes in Bac Giang so we can bring the flood relief to the center of the district and then use the truck and car to bring emergency relief from the district centers to the commune level.

COCHRANE: Typhoons kill hundreds of people every year in Vietnam, but officials are hoping that Hagupit will be the last typhoon of the season.