Skip to main content

Viet Nam: Typhoon Lekima Emergency appeal n° MDRVN002 Final Report

Countries
Viet Nam
Sources
IFRC
Publication date

GLIDE n=B0 TC-2007-00178-VNM

16 January 2009

Period covered by this Final Report: 10 October 2007-10 October 2008;

Appeal target (current): CHF 3,231,507 (USD 2.7 million or EUR 1.9 million)

Appeal coverage: 77%;

Appeal history:

- Preliminary appeal launched on 10 October for CHF 3,231,507 (USD 2.7 million or EUR 1.9 million) for 12 months to assist 193,000 beneficiaries.

- Appeal launched on 17 October as above with minor adjustments to the operation.

- Disaster Relief Emergency Fund (DREF): CHF 200,000 (USD 170,000 or EUR 120,000).

Summary: The one-year operation has benefited at least 180,000 people over the emergency and recovery phases by providing food (rice), household kits, and re-construction of new houses.

This support conformed to the most urgent needs of those affected by this disaster, helping to sustain them both physically and psychologically in the aftermath. During the implementation, the operation was challenged by additional emergency needs for food and family kits as a consequence of major flooding and a lengthy spell of cold weather in early 2008. The Viet Nam Red Cross (VNRC) has been able to address these emerging needs, expanding their services to cover the increased number of beneficiaries through assistance from other sources such as the government, and local organizations.

Observations and experience garnered from the operation show that the complexity of typhoon patterns, particularly over a very short period of time, makes this climatic event unpredictable and often with an impact overwhelming the capacity of communities and VNRC, despite training on disaster preparedness and tools such as hazard, vulnerability and capacity assessment (HVCA) in place.

Contributions were received from the American Red Cross, British Red Cross, Canadian Red Cross, German Red Cross/government, Japanese Red Cross, Monaco Red Cross, Netherlands Red Cross, New Zealand Red Cross, Swedish Red Cross/government, USAID, the Irish government, Royal Norwegian Embassy in Viet Nam, Intel Foundation, the Merck Company Foundation and private donors. These covered a substantial 77 per cent of the appeal budget, enabling the VNRC to meet the appeal goals of providing food, non-food items and recovery services. Experiments in capacity building for the national society have been carried out through a new approach integrating Red Cross chapters with commune levels to a greater extent, but this needs longterm support for any significant impact.

On behalf of the Viet Nam Red Cross, the International Federation would like to thank all partners for their support.

The situation

Since mid-August 2007, the central provinces of Viet Nam have been badly affected by immense flooding.

Following this, on 3 and 4 October, the region was again seriously hit by Typhoon Lekima, which struck with strong winds of 130 km/hour and heavy rainfall, submerging six provinces in central Viet Nam: Nghe An, Ha Tinh, Quang Binh, Quang Tri, Hue and Quang Ngai.

In the aftermath of Typhoon Lekima which caused considerable damage to infrastructure, heavy rain hit the provinces of Quang Binh, Ha Tinh, Nghe An, Thanh Hoa, Ninh Binh, Hoa Binh and Son La. Extensive flooding occurred between 4 and 6 October. According to local news sources, about 600,000 people were made homeless due to collapsed and badly damaged houses. In total, two million people in ten provinces were critically affected by Typhoon Lekima and subsequent flooding, which destroyed their rice harvest and other stocks as well as their homes and belongings. Hundreds of people were forced to seek shelter in temples or cement buildings nearby.

Once the situation appeared to have calmed, people returned to what was left of their homes with the hope of returning to some degree of normal life as existed before Lekima. However, many had to be re-evacuated from their houses or temporary shelters due to flooding caused by one week of torrential rain from 29 October to 6 November 2007. Flooding was widespread in the central, coastal and highland areas. About 90,000 people were evacuated to safer areas by the local authorities. In areas such as Hai Lang and Trieu Phong in Quang Binh province, many families were living amid flood waters for more than 20 days. Tens of thousands of homes were submerged in central Viet Nam, as a result of the fifth major flood since August 2007. The impact of the two disasters is summarized below:

People reported No. of houses collapsed/washed away No. of houses damaged/flooded Paddy fields destroyed (hectare) Food lost (tonne)
Dead Missing Injured
Typhoon Lekima 88 8 150 9,505 127,551 11,000 37,321
Floods in October- November 155 12 137 4,372 586,792 4,550 35,415

(Damage assessment reports done by Central Committee for Storms and Floods Control, CCSFC)

Media reports suggest that the series of disasters has affected 2.6 million people in the central part of Viet Nam, leaving 4,000 people without shelter.

In the midst of the compounding disasters, the northern and northern central provinces endured a lengthy spell of cold weather, the worst since 1989, for more than a month. The predicament of the affected people who derive their incomes mainly from crop production and husbandry has worsened. According to the ministry of agriculture and rural development (MARD), about 125,000 hectares of rice seedlings were destroyed during the severe weather. The failure of the rice crop was greatest in the five provinces north of the country, including the two typhoon-affected provinces of Thanh Hoa and Nghe An. Local governments and inhabitants expressed concern over the lack of rice seedlings for re-planting as well the possibility of a food shortage among vulnerable people in the following months.

From the socio-economic perspective, the consequences of subsequent disasters greatly challenge the government's efforts in working towards poverty reduction and education. due to this increased vulnerability as a consequence of the floods and cold, the Red Cross response in the aftermath of Typhoon Lekima was expanded to address urgent needs of food and non-food items.