Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai has decided to allocate VND225 billion ($12.6 million) from the state budget 2009 and 10,000 tons of rice to five central and central highlands provinces affected by typhoon Mirinae. The relief aid will be transferred to Phu Yen, Binh Dinh, Khanh Hoa, Ninh Thuan and Gia Lai provinces, the Vietnam News Agency said Thursday. Mirinae, the 11th typhoon that hit Vietnam so far this year, killed 90 people, injured 52 others and caused 38 missing after hitting the central coastal provinces. The storm has destroyed 15,000 houses and submerged 3,000 hectares of rice paddy and 5,000 hectares of subsidiary crops, said the Central Steering Committee for Flood and Storm Prevention and Control, giving no figures of damages. Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung yesterday sent a dispatch to ask the provinces to rescue people trapped in flood waters and supply food and medicines.
