Vietnamese hearts overcome storms and floods

Through the Fatherland Front and organizations, hundreds of billions of dong have been contributed by people to help rescue and rebuild areas devastated by storms and floods.

Due to the influence of storm No. 11 (storm Matmo) in Bac Ninh province in the past few days, heavy rain, along with floodwaters from upstream, caused the water levels of Thuong and Cau rivers to rise above record flood levels. By the afternoon of October 10, many communes in Bac Ninh province such as Bo Ha, Tien Luc, Hop Thinh... were still submerged in water.

An unprecedented scene in history

Mr. Tran Van Ngai (Dong Kenh village, Bo Ha commune) is still shocked when looking at the flood waters surrounding Bo Ha commune in recent days. "I have lived here for 70 years and have never seen flooding like this. Even the record flood in 1986 was still 1 meter lower than the current water level," he said.

Along the Thuong River, the water flows turbulently. On the way to Bo Ha at noon on October 10, a group of reporters from the Nguoi Lao Dong Newspaper had to hitch a ride on the 409th Tank Brigade, Military Region 1 and vehicles from relief teams. Ms. La Thi Bon (Ca Ngo village, Bo Ha commune) said that the entire village of nearly 200 households was isolated. When people were about to run out of clean water, food, and medicine, relief goods arrived. "I am very grateful to the philanthropists as well as the government for providing timely relief to people in this difficult time," Ms. Bon said.

According to the reporter's records on the same afternoon, many residential areas in Bo Ha commune were still isolated, especially residential areas along the Thuong River due to high and fast-flowing floodwaters. Together with local authorities, many volunteer groups participated in rescue operations and supported the transportation of necessities to residential areas isolated by floodwaters in Bo Ha commune.

Bo Ha commune authorities had to mobilize vehicles to clear the way for trucks carrying relief goods to get as close as possible to the flooded area. Then, canoes would transport goods up the Thuong River to residential areas in Ca Ngo village, where dozens of households were isolated.

Mr. Cao Van Hiep (a volunteer group in Hanoi ) is the driver of the canoe carrying relief goods, said that the river water is high and flowing fast, moving upstream is very difficult and dangerous. However, many people are isolated, lacking food and drink, so the volunteer group has prepared the most careful means and equipment, ensuring the safety of the group to move to these areas.

According to information from the People's Committee of Bac Ninh province, the water level on Thuong and Cau rivers is slowly decreasing. Important dykes have been threatened by floodwaters in recent days, but the situation is under control and safety is guaranteed. Forces continue to reinforce built-up areas, and organize the transportation of necessities to people in isolated areas; organize sanitation in receding areas, and continue to be on duty in important places for timely rescue.

In order to promptly support people in flood-affected areas to stabilize their lives, the Bac Ninh Provincial Relief Mobilization Committee has allocated the first phase of 20 billion VND to provide emergency support to people in 17 communes and wards, such as Yen The, Bo Ha, Tien Luc... to buy food, medicine, drinking water, and other urgent necessities...

Dozens of tons of goods were transported from Can Tho to give to the people of Ha Tinh. Photo: CA LINH

Sharing and repairing damage

Faced with the severe damage caused by storm No. 10 (Bualoi) to people in the Northern and North Central regions, the Ho Chi Minh City Fatherland Front Committee has called on people, agencies, organizations and businesses in the area to share and provide spiritual and material support, contributing to helping people overcome the damage caused by storm No. 10.

At the same time, encourage cadres, civil servants, public employees, soldiers of the armed forces, and people receiving salaries from the state budget to contribute at least one day's salary each, until November 30. Ho Chi Minh City also established reception points in 168 communes, wards, and special zones to make it easier for people, agencies, organizations, individuals, and the business community to transact and contribute.

The Ho Chi Minh City Relief Mobilization Committee organized a delegation to go directly to the Northern and North Central provinces to visit and encourage local people and donate 47 billion VND. In particular, Ho Chi Minh City press agencies showed their pioneering spirit. Mr. Nguyen Thanh Binh, a retired official, expressed: "I am retired, with a pension of nearly 5 million VND/month. Now I am donating 1 month of my pension to support people in the flood-hit areas with the hope that they will soon overcome difficulties and stabilize their lives."

On October 10, the cargo trucks named "Accompanying people, workers, and youth in storm and flood areas" organized by the Can Tho City Youth Union in coordination with the City Labor Federation started rolling. Mr. Tran Viet Tuan, Deputy Secretary of the City Youth Union, said that after a period of mobilization, about 20 tons of goods, 4 oxygen ventilators and medical supplies, more than 19 tons of necessities, 7.5 tons of rice, 511 boxes of noodles, 338 boxes of milk, medicine, etc. have been received so far.

In addition, Can Tho City Police also launched and called on all officers and soldiers to donate and support over 5.7 billion VND to people affected by storm No. 10. Ms. Ho Thi Cam Dao - Deputy Secretary of the City Party Committee, Chairwoman of the Vietnam Fatherland Front Committee of Can Tho City - said that the unit has taken from the relief fund to provide immediate support to 5 provinces that suffered heavy damage from storm No. 10 including Thanh Hoa, Ha Tinh, Nghe An, Ninh Binh and Quang Tri, each province 500 million VND, with a total amount of 2.5 billion VND.

In recent days, in Da Nang City, the SOS Volunteer Team and the Van Tinh 0 Dong Bus Club have been organizing 6 points to receive goods to send to people affected by storms and floods. It is expected that at noon on October 11, they will start transporting goods to the North. Mr. Le Tri Thanh, Chairman of the Fatherland Front Committee of Da Nang City, said that the city had previously allocated 6 billion VND to support the 4 localities most severely affected by storm No. 10, including Thanh Hoa, Nghe An, Ha Tinh and Quang Tri.

Ready for the community

On the same morning, two working groups of 62 medical officials from Gia Lai province set off for Thai Nguyen and Cao Bang provinces to join hands with medical forces in these localities to take care of the health of people affected by storms and floods.

Medical staff were assigned to coordinate with local health departments to clean the environment, disinfect water sources, prevent epidemics, distribute medicine and communicate public health education. Previously, on the night of October 9, medical staff and other forces worked all night to pack essential supplies and medicines to transport to the flooded areas to serve medical work.

Of which, Binh Dinh Pharmaceutical and Medical Equipment Joint Stock Company (Bidiphar) sponsored 4,000 family medicine bags (2,000 bags for each province). Gia Lai Provincial Center for Disease Control supplied 600 kg of chloramin B powder (300 kg for each province) to serve the work of disinfection and environmental treatment.

Seeing the delegations off, Mr. Pham Anh Tuan, Chairman of Gia Lai Provincial People's Committee, highly appreciated and commended the proactive spirit, responsibility, and willingness to contribute to the community of the medical team.

In recent days, many agencies and units in Dong Nai province have launched a fundraising campaign to support people in the northern provinces and cities to overcome the consequences of storm No. 10.

The leaders of the Office of the People's Committee of Dong Nai province have launched a campaign and called on all cadres, civil servants, public employees and workers in the headquarters to promote the spirit of "mutual love", "helping each other", joining hands to contribute to the people in the storm-hit areas to overcome difficulties and soon stabilize their lives.

The Fatherland Front Committee of Dong Nai province, the Provincial Party Committee's Propaganda and Mass Mobilization Commission, and the People's Committees of wards and communes have organized donations to support people in localities affected by storms and floods. Responding to the call of the Fatherland Front Committee of Da Kia commune, Tran Thuan's family has spent 7 million VND in savings to send donations. He said that his family does not have much, just hoping to contribute a little bit. This is the amount of money that his family spends 20,000 VND every day from their meager income to prepare for illness.

As for Mrs. Nguyen Thi Huong, even though she is 100 years old, she still asked her grandson to take her from Tam Phuoc ward to the provincial Red Cross headquarters to contribute 1 month of pension (4.65 million VND) to support flood victims. Mrs. Huong hopes to use the association to share with people affected by natural disasters.

As of 4 p.m. on October 10, the Ho Chi Minh City Fatherland Front Committee has received more than 60 billion VND in support for people in flood-hit areas from agencies, units, organizations and individuals.

Readers of Nguoi Lao Dong Newspaper donated more than 1.6 billion VND via Zalopay and MoMo

As of the afternoon of October 10, the amount of money that readers of Nguoi Lao Dong Newspaper donated to support people affected by storm No. 10 through Zalopay and MoMo wallets was more than 1.6 billion VND. Of which, the program to support people affected by storm No. 10 launched by Nguoi Lao Dong Newspaper on Zalopay had more than 15,700 users joining hands to donate more than 1.14 billion VND. At the same time, through MoMo, over 500 million VND was donated from the hearts of more than 11,000 users.

From this mobilization source, Nguoi Lao Dong Newspaper has given the first installment of 1.2 billion VND through the Ho Chi Minh City Fatherland Front Committee to promptly deliver to people in flood-affected areas.

T. Phuong

Source: https://nld.com.vn/tam-long-viet-nam-vuot-bao-lu-196251010223401037.htm