More rain for Vietnam as officials call for extra aid

October 16, 2000
Web posted at: 7:37 PM HKT (1137 GMT)

HANOI, Vietnam (Reuters) -- Weather forecasters on Monday expected more rain for drenched Vietnam in coming days, bringing further misery to millions of people affected by floods that have already killed nearly 500 people.

Officials said on Monday 200,000 more people needed aid after the central part of the country was ravaged last week.

Meteorologists forecast that rains affecting much of the country would continue for several days, keeping river levels high and, combined with high sea tides, further slow draining of flood waters from the worst-hit Mekong Delta region.

The southern region anti-flood committee said 366 people, including 262 children, had been killed in more than six weeks of serious flooding in the low-lying Delta.

Another 54 people have died in central and southern provinces further north in the past week, while flash floods killed 51 in a northern mountain village earlier this month.

Thirteen of the 18 districts of the central highlands coffee-growing province of Dak Lak were flooded last week, but water levels had fallen quickly since Sunday, an official of the local anti-flood committee said.

However, she said the province needed relief supplies for 200,000 affected people, including food, clothing and medicine.

Her committee said more than 1,200 tonnes of food had been swept away, nearly 6,000 houses submerged and 615 destroyed, while 530 hectares (1,300 acres) of the province's 200,000 hectares (494,000 acres) of coffee trees were inundated.

EMERGENCY AID

"We need to send emergency aid and also to provide longer-term supplies and accommodation to people living in areas affected by floods," the official said.

Several million dollars have already been pledged by international donors for flood relief in Vietnam and the United Nations said last week that it planned a fresh appeal.

A meteorologist at the national weather center said more rains were expected in central regions in coming days, but these were unlikely to be heavy enough to cause further flooding.

Last November, floods in central provinces killed 730 people, and aid workers have expressed fears of a repeat disaster if new tropical weather systems move in.

The meteorologist said tides in the South China Sea were expected to peak in the next few days, after which Delta flood waters should slowly recede.

Waters have reached outlying districts of Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam's biggest population center, but officials said there was no threat to the city center.

The Delta floods, the worst in 40 years, are not expected to recede fully till late November and will delay planting of the main winter-spring rice crop.

About a quarter of a million people have had to flee their homes in eight Delta provinces, but Red Cross officials said some had been able to return in recent days as water levels subsided in some upstream areas.

Many evacuees have had to camp out for weeks in unsanitary conditions, raising fears of diseases like cholera and dengue.

With little dry ground to bury those who have died since the floods hit, some families have resorted to placing coffins in trees, creating further health hazards, officials said.

A representative of the World Health Organization said the lingering flood waters had increased the possibility of diseases like cholera, but he was not aware of any outbreaks so far.

Copyright 2000 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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