While people nationwide are busy shopping for the Lunar New Year (Tet), flood victims in the central province of Binh Dinh are still struggling to put their lives back together after the storms and floods last November.
Typhoon Mirinae on November 2 destroyed many houses in Dieu Tri town in the province’s Tuy Phuoc District, leaving many people without proper shelter to celebrate the New Year holiday.
Though the Government has offered to help families with VND12 million (US$648) to rebuild their houses, many families have still not been able to rebuild yet.
Many people were killed in the typhoon leaving families bereft and helpless.
Bui Van Thu and his brother Bui Van Chanh were swept away by flood on November 3, 2009. Since the loss of the family breadwinner, his wife, Truong Thi Kim Lien, has fought bad health to provide for her children.
It has been so hard for her to earn money to feed her three children and send them to school, so shopping for Tet is completely impossible.
Nguyen Thi Hue, vice chairwoman of the People’s Committee of Dieu Tri town, said over 15 hectares of alluvial farm in the town was still unfarmable making food shortages likely for the end of the year. She added that housing was also a problem.
The vice chairwoman said, “After the flood, 12,000 people needed aid were given relief money and goods worth VND2 billion (US$108,000) in total.”
)
