VIETNAM: FLOOD WATERS CONTINUE TO RISE IN MEKONG DELTA AS THOUSANDS FLEE TO HIGHER GROUND
Record ID:
648022
VIETNAM: FLOOD WATERS CONTINUE TO RISE IN MEKONG DELTA AS THOUSANDS FLEE TO HIGHER GROUND
- Title: VIETNAM: FLOOD WATERS CONTINUE TO RISE IN MEKONG DELTA AS THOUSANDS FLEE TO HIGHER GROUND
- Date: 17th September 2000
- Summary: VINH HUNG DISTRICT, LONG AN PROVINCE, SOUTHERN VIETNAM (SEPTEMBER 14, 2000) (REUTERS) 1. TRACKING SHOT FROM BOAT FLOODED AREA/ FLOODED HOUSES (2 SHOTS) 0.12 2. SLV BOATS CARRYING RICE; SLV LITTLE GIRL ROWING A SMALL BOAT; SLV PERSON WADING IN WATER AND WASHING (5 SHOTS) 0.44 3. SLV FLOODED HOUSE PAN TO RED CROSS STAFF LOADING RELIEF RICE ONTO BOAT (3 SHOTS) 1.06 4. TRACKING SHOT RED CROSS FLAG FLYING ON MOVING BOAT; SLV INUNDATED HOUSES; FLOOD VICTIMS ON DYKE; RED CROSS STAFF UNLOADING RICE; FLOOD VICTIMS WAITING TO GET RELIEF (7 SHOTS) 1.39 5. SOUNDBITE (Vietnamese), TRAN THI DANH, FIFTY, FLOOD VICTIM, SAYING "The water is rising very fast, when we move out our belongings, we lost them all. My son is in the army. There are only two daughters of mine so nobody helped us now." 1.55 6. MV RED CROSS STAFF HANDLE RELIEF AID TO FLOOD VICTIMS; VILLAGERS UNLOADING RELIEF AID 2.04 7. SOUNDBITE (Vietnamese), TRAN THI DANH SAYING "My house collapsed. We had to move onto a dyke but it is very dangerous now.The authorities asked us to move again. We are ready but we don't know where to go." 2.16 8. MV FLOOD VICTIMS RECEIVING RELIEF 2.21 9. SOUNDBITE (Vietnamese), NGUYEN THI LOI, 38, FLOOD VICTIM SAYING "Now we are suffering a hard life. Because of the floods we can do nothing. My father has been sick for a long time." 2.29 10. SCU LOI'S FATHER LYING ON BED IN A SHELTER (2 SHOTS) 2.37 11. SLV INTERNATIONAL RED CROSS TEAM TALKING WITH VILLAGERS; WOMAN COOKING (2 SHOTS) 2.46 12. MV JOHN GEOGHEGAN, HEAD OF DELEGATION OF THE INTERNATIONAL RED CROSS AND RED CRESCENT SOCIETIES AND HIS TEAM WALKING THROUGH VILLAGE 2.50 13. SOUNDBITE (English), JOHN GEOGHEGAN SAYING "Once we've got the shelter material provided, once we've provided mosquito nets and some clean drinking water, what people need then is long-term food supplies.Their rice crops have gone, and they don't have any work to do. They can't go fishing because most of them don't have any boats and so as a result they need to have some kind of assistance with food. The government's providing some but the Red Cross has already assisted about 60,000 U.S. dollars worth of assistance. We're hoping to do more." 3.18 14. SLV FLOOD VICTIMS AT TEMPORARY LIVING AREA ON A DYKE 3.27 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 2nd October 2000 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: VINH HUNG DISTRICT, LONG AN PROVINCE, VIETNAM MEKONG DELTA
- Country: Vietnam
- Reuters ID: LVA3GCE7XA2ZYNMQW7AFI086T9VM
- Story Text: Flood waters continue to rise in Vietnam's Mekong
Delta, where relief workers say tens of thousands people have
been forced to flee to higher ground. Relief supplies are
being distributed by the Internatonal Red Cross and local
agencies.
Deaths in disastrous floods in Vietnam's Mekong Delta
rice bowl rose to 19 since last week after a stricken province
bordering Cambodia reported another five children and an adult
dead.
The International Red Cross said the floods in the
southern region that have already inundated as many as 500,000
homes and driven 150,000 people to seek refugee on higher
ground.
In an updated casualty and damage list issued on
Saturday, one of the three worst hit provinces, An Giang, said
its death toll had risen to 11, including 10 children. The
other deaths have been in neighbouring provinces of Dong Thap
and Long An.
Cambodia has reported its worst floods in 70 years and
sought help for an estimated 600,000 people. Its says 88
people had been reported killed in flooding this year.
John Geoghegan, head of the International Red Cross
delegation in Vietnam, said water levels on the Mekong River
in Cambodia, which have been feeding the Delta flooding, had
continued to rise on Friday, by up to five cm (two inches) .
He added the Red Cross was appealing for 1.5 million
U.S. dollars of fresh emergency aid for Vietnam's flood
victims to supplement a 2 million U.S. dollar Vietnamese
government relief effort.
"The government's providing some but the Red Cross has
already assisted about 60,000 U.S. dollars worth of the all
assistance. We're hoping to do more," he said.
The floods have already surged well above danger levels,
submerging half the land of the three provinces and creating
vast inland seas. Further deluges are expected in coming days.
The appeal will cover plastic sheeting for emergency
shelters for around 35,000 people, at least 2,500 tonnes of
rice, 25,000 mosquito nets and 6,000 cheap boats.
Prompt rescue work by thousands of soldiers and
volunteers and improved flood defences have so far limited
deaths, but rapidly rising water levels and crumbling flood
protection dykes threaten increasing numbers of people.
Floods and typhoons lash Vietnam every year from July,
and have killed more than 50 people this year. Last November,
typhoons and floods in the central coastal areas killed 730.
Most of the worst affected people in the Delta are the
poorest of poor peasants who face a precarious existence on
dyke refuges until waters eventually recede in late November.
"The water is rising very fast, when we move out our
belongings, we lost them all. My son is in the army. There are
only two daughters of mine so nobody helped us now," said 50
year-old Tran Thi Danh.
Villagers camped on dykes say they have almost no food
and no clean water. Families are crammed together in tiny
leaking shacks in extremely poor sanitary conditions.
"My house collapsed. We had to move onto a dyke but it
is very dangerous now. The authorities asked us to move
again. We are ready but we don't know where to go," said
Ngyuyen Thi Loi.
The impact on Vietnam's rice output has been slight as
the Delta harvest was almost complete when the floods hit.
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