Quang Nam hands over flood-proof houses to affected families

The houses are among the 80 ones built from March 16 this year. 

The project is part of an aid package of the Government of the Republic of Korea to assist typhoon-hit poor Vietnamese families’ re-building efforts. 

It aims to build 300 houses in the three central provinces of Khanh Hoa, Phu Yen and Quang Nam.

The project is jointly carried out by the UN Development Programme (UNDP), the General Department of Disaster Prevention and Control under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, the Vietnam Red Cross as well as the Red Cross Societies and Women’s Unions in the localities. 

Vo Tan Sanh, Chairman of the Red Cross Society in Binh Dao, said floods usually occur in the commune.

The association has proposed building four flood-proof houses for needy families in the commune with the fund of 200 million VND (8,810 USD).

Nguyen Thi Lan, Chairwoman of the Red Cross Society in Thang Binh, said the RoK-funded project benefits 17 households in her district and helps locals improve their lives.

More flood resistant houses will be built for poor people in the coming time.

Vietnam is one of the five countries hardest hit by natural disasters. Over the past two decades, natural disasters left over 400 people dead and missing each year, caused economic losses of about 1-1.5 percent of GDP, and affected people’s living environment and conditions, as well as socio-economic activities and sustainable development of the country. 

In 2017, a record number of 16 typhoons and four low pressures occurred in the East Sea. Natural disasters cost the lives of 386 people in the year, damaged more than 600,000 houses and caused economic losses of about 60 trillion VND (2.64 billion USD), with the worst being typhoons Doksuri and Damrey.

Damrey, the 12th storm developed in the East Sea in 2017, hit Vietnam on November 4, affecting more than 4.3 million people and damaging hundreds of thousands of houses.