In northern Vietnam, where the big typhoon “Yagi” made landfall, floods and landslides have killed and injured more than 290 people, and AAR Japan’s emergency team has started providing cash benefits to support evacuees in Chuong My, near the capital Hanoi. Junji Yagi of AAR Tokyo office reports from the field.

The entire village of Chuong My has been submerged under water, and many of the affected villagers have taken refuge in the homes of relatives on higher ground. With many of the affected people unable to purchase food and drinking water due to a lack of relief supplies, AAR provided cash benefits. on September 17, AAR, in cooperation with the village head and villagers, asked villagers to gather at the village’s meeting place and handed cash to 154 affected families who were in need of immediate living expenses.

“Our fields are submerged and we can’t harvest.”

Many villagers are engaged in agriculture in the village, but their rice paddies and fields were submerged and the water has not receded even 10 days after the typhoon hit. A 37-year-old deputy village head said, “The first floor of my house is still under water, but I have managed to live on the second floor without evacuating. This year’s harvest is hopeless. All the fish we farmed have been washed away, and about 1,000 ducks have been wiped out,” he laments.

A 57-year-old woman who lives with her mother-in-law and her husband said, “Our house on lower ground is still submerged, and it will take two weeks at the earliest before the water recedes. We have taken refuge at my daughter’s house on higher ground, but we can’t afford to be a nuisance forever, so we want to go back home as soon as possible.”

A woman (45-years-old) whose house is still flooded to the roof said “A fellow Vietnamese working in Japan sent us donations, and we will use the help from AAR to clean up and repair our house once the water recedes. Thank you so much to everyone in Japan”.

The situation in the typhoon-stricken areas in Vietnam is far worse than what has been reported in Japan, and the assistance is not enough at all. Please support AAR’s emergency assistance for typhoon-stricken areas in Vietnam.