ReliefWeb

Summary of major revisions made to emergency plan of action:

This Update refers to specifically the DREF portion of the operation only. The revision doesn’t affect support by other sources of funding to the overall operation but only to the DREF contribution of the operation. It occurred well into the implementation of the operation and with the consolidation of the operational expenses and reports from the target provinces. The continuous monitoring highlighted that there are some savings done throughout the operation and higher needs within some of the target areas. The following changes are therefore planned for the remainder of the operation:

• Increase number of households receiving unconditional cash from 1,805 to 2,165 (which is an addition of approximately 360 households);

• Removal of activities under AoF 4: Health and Care which were planned in two provinces of Quang Nam and Quang Ngai as other actors are responding;

• Reduction of some budget lines in relation to transportation of goods to affected areas; monitoring and communications; and removal of budget line allocated for RDRT deployment as a recent RDRT who came in through another DREF Operation (MDRVN016) was able to support the operation;

• Improved reporting in actual household numbers.

A. Situation analysis

Description of the disaster

Typhoon Damrey made landfall in early Saturday morning, 4 November 2017, with winds of up to 135km/h, wreaking havoc in the central and south-central coast of Viet Nam; before entering Cambodia. According to the Chief of Office of the National Search and Rescue Committee, Typhoon Damrey was the strongest storm to make landfall in Khánh Hòa Province and the south-central region in the last 20 years. The recorded danger level of Damrey was higher than that of Typhoon Doksuri which pummelled the central region in September, earlier this year.

According to the National Steering Committee for Department of Natural Disaster Prevention and Control (DNDPC), the typhoon caused worst devastation in the 9 provinces, of which 122 communes from 12 districts have been listed as seriously affected by flooding. The typhoon affected a total of 4.3 million people and this included 80,531 pregnant/nursing women and 143,997 children. The most affected provinces, including the Central Highlands (Lâm Ðồng, Kon Tum, Ðắk Lắk, and Gia Lai) and the South-Central region (Khánh Hòa, Phú Yên, Bình Ðịnh, Quang Nam and Quảng Ngãi), had high numbers of dead and missing people, with a total of 107 people died, 16 people missing and 174 people injured, as of 11 November 2017.

The most affected provinces, including the Central Highlands (Lâm Ðồng, Kon Tum, Ðắk Lắk, and Gia Lai) and the South-Central region (Khánh Hòa, Phú Yên, Bình Ðịnh, Quang Nam and Quảng Ngãi), had high numbers of dead and missing people, seriously damaged infrastructure, collapsed/unroofed houses, and some 20,000 hectares of crops destroyed (including 5,296 hectares of rice, almost 15,000 hectares of vegetables, and 24,435 agricultural cages).

Following the typhoon, 50,000 households were in urgent need of food assistance, and 100,000 households had lost their livelihoods. More than 125,000 hectares of rice and vegetables were destroyed and aquaculture in Viet Nam was severely affected, with 133,000 hectares of shrimp farms flooded and over 70,000 aquaculture cages swept away.
The provinces affected by Typhoon Damrey have been affected by a series of storms since 2016, weakening household coping capacities as their productive assets have been lost. The Government of Viet Nam estimates the economic loss to be USD 630.5 million.

The People’s Aid Coordinating Committee (PACCOM) called for a coordination meeting with all relevant stakeholders in Viet Nam to update the situation and response plan. The meeting was participated by UN agencies, NGOs and the Red Cross Movement. PACCOM officially sent out an appeal for assistance to the people affected on 7 November 2017.

The Government of Viet Nam, through the Central Committee for Natural Disaster Prevention and Control (CCNDPC) and the Viet Nam Disaster Management Authority (VNDMA) under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) as CCNDPC Secretariat, is coordinating the response in the affected provinces and at the national level.

At the end of November, the UN in Viet Nam estimated that approx. USD 54 million humanitarian funding is required for water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH), food security and livelihoods, and shelter activities. While relief operations have begun, additional financial support will be vital to address short, medium and long-term needs to help communities recover from the storm and floods, and strengthen the resilience of affected communities.