Needy Children In Drought-Stricken Vietnamese Province Receive $60,000 in Aid

Vulnerable children and poor families in the south-central Vietnamese province of Binh Thuan, who have been suffering the country’s worst drought in nearly a century, have been helped with a much-needed $60,000 aid package from an international relief and development organization in Hanoi. The relief, which World Vision said is its initial response to help needy people in Binh Thuan overcome the crisis, focuses on providing the area with drinking water and supporting domestic water supply facilities. The support includes clean water for 60 days (120 liters per person), water tanks, water pipes and water filters. More than 3,000 children and adults in Ham Thuan Bac District and Bac Binh District have so far benefited from the relief that started in late April and will continue until mid-May, World Vision said in a press release on May 6. “We are seeking further funding opportunities to expand our emergency relief efforts to more drought-affected people,” said Le Van Duong, World Vision’s National Coordinator of Humanitarian and Emergency Affairs in Vietnam. In 2005 World Vision initiated a 15-year area development program in Bac Binh, focusing on nutrition, education, child protection and participation, livelihood, disaster risk reduction, and climate change adaptation. The program reached Ham Thuan Bac in 2007 and has significantly improved the living conditions of more than 52,000 people in the two districts, including vulnerable children. World Vision’s actions in the two districts are in response to Vietnam’s first-ever appeal for international support of around $48 million in April 2016 to address the prolonged d rought and saline intrusion impacts in 20 provinces in the Mekong Delta, south-central region and Central Highlands. Drought and saltwater intrusion began affecting the Mekong Delta last December, massively damaging crops, threatening food security, and worsening sanitation and people’s health. On a global level, World Vision is actively responding to El Niño, a weather phenomenon that experts believe is partially responsible for the drought in the Mekong Delta region. The organization has so far committed $78 million in relief for response activities targeting the needs of five million people. World Vision International is a relief and development organization working to improve the quality of life of people, especially children, who are marginalized and living in poverty. The organization started working in Vietnam with emergency relief assistance in 1988 and opened an office in Hanoi in 1990. (http://tuoitrenews.vn/ May 6)