by Vu Kim Chung
7-12-1999
At the beginning of December 1999, Vietnam's Ministry of Labour, War Invalids and Social Affairs made a general report on losses caused by Vietnam's worst floods in a century in early November and the provision of relief efforts in the seven central provinces.
The report said 621 people died, 259 were injured and 24 were still missing. An estimated 1.5 million people still to not have enough to eat and hundreds of thousands of people were homeless. In response to the appeal by the Vietnam Fatherland Front Central Committee, the people nationwide, overseas Vietnamese, countries worldwide and international organisations gave great material and spiritual assistance to the flood victims.
The relief campaign offices raised a total of VND 83.3 billion (US$1=14,000 dong) and over 2,000 tonnes of goods, which was in excess of the original target (VND 60 billion). The Vietnamese government provided 33,000 tonnes of food from the national reserves and VND 100 billion.