Typhoon damage relief: From Australia to Central Vietnam

Le Xuan Tung (CARE)

On the Traditional Day on Natural Disaster Prevention 22 May, learn more about the story of Mr. Vui in Hue. Mr. Vui is among thousands of people in Hue and Quang Nam provinces that have received typhoon damage relief following typhoon Damrey late last year thanks to support by CARE and the Australian government.

Mr. Lê Văn Vui is a resident at Quảng Thành communne, Quảng An district, Thừa Thiên – Huế province. At the age of 60, he remains the breadwinner of the family. A typical day of him consists of time for farming work, growing crops, as well as looking after his sick wife and and his father who is past 90 years old.

His wife is undergoing treatment for anxiety disorder. As the condition worsens, he has to accompany his wife to every hospital possible, yet the suffering has not yet dwindled. Vui himself also has been diagnosed with a serious case of Gastric ulcer.

Typhoon number 12 in 2017, known as Damrey internationally, exacerbated his situation. All his crops were swept away with the flood. “Flood used to be less and not to come so suddenly. Now, due to the hydroelectric dam, flood takes way longer to recede”, Vui shared. Additionally, in times of no flood, crops of his family and the neighborhoods face pricing pressure from crop brokers.

Hardships burden on his shoulder, yet when we met him, we could felt the sense of warmth in his eyes while he told us the story of his life – “I can work as long as I can stay healthy, so no worry!” he said with an unshakable belief that everything would be fine again.

Thanks to the financial support from the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, CARE International in Viet Nam has helped bring the smile back to Mr. Vui. He said the emergency assistance from CARE and the Australian government helped his family as well as others in the neighborhood to restore their farming and cattle raising, and at the same it, it even helped them in the further expansion of their production. Moreover, via skill training short courses held by CARE and Hue province Red Cross, Vui and his neighbors gained a great deal of information on husbandry: A lot of knowledge, good or bad practices, etc. were introduced in these courses, which inspired local farmers to enhance technical skills in their farming.

Looking forward to the future, he wished for his family to stay healthy, stay safe and his hometown to not being severely damaged by another typhoon.

Mr. Vui’s family is one in nearly 2000 families in four communes, Quảng An, Quảng Thành (Quảng Điền district, Thừa Thiên-Huế province) and Đại Chánh, Đại Tân (Đại Lộc district, Quảng Nam province), to receive assistance after being hit by typhoon Damrey. The typhoon caused over 100 deaths, 19 injured, more than 3,000 house collapsed and more than 130,000 other houses damaged. The Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade pledged 400,000 AUD for CARE International in Vietnam to support local people in these locations to recover from the typhoon. In total, about 700 households received multi-purpose cash, over 650 households received cash to restore their livelihoods and nearly 400 households had access to clean water.