Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
05HANOI3041
2005-11-16 10:32:00
UNCLASSIFIED
Embassy Hanoi
Cable title:  

RECOVERING FROM DISASTER - A LOOK AT ONE PROVINCE

Tags:  EAGR EAID ECON ENRG VM AFLU 
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This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 HANOI 003041 

SIPDIS

STATE FOR EAP/BCLTV
USDOC FOR 4430/MAC/ASIA/OPB/VLC/HPPHO
STATE FOR USAID/DCHA/OFDA KEN ISAACS, GREG GOTTLIEB
STATE FOR USAID/DCHA/OFDA MICHAEL MARX, ROB THAYER, BART
DEEMER
STATE FOR USAID/DCHA/OFDA DAA WILLIAM GARVELINK
BANGKOK FOR OFDA SENIOR REGIONAL ADVISOR TOM DOLAN
KATHMANDU FOR OFDA REGIONAL ADVISOR WILLIAM BERGER
GENEVA FOR USAID NANCY KYLOH
USDA FOR FAS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: EAGR EAID ECON ENRG VM AFLU
SUBJECT: RECOVERING FROM DISASTER - A LOOK AT ONE PROVINCE
IN VIETNAM

Ref: Hanoi 2569


UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 HANOI 003041

SIPDIS

STATE FOR EAP/BCLTV
USDOC FOR 4430/MAC/ASIA/OPB/VLC/HPPHO
STATE FOR USAID/DCHA/OFDA KEN ISAACS, GREG GOTTLIEB
STATE FOR USAID/DCHA/OFDA MICHAEL MARX, ROB THAYER, BART
DEEMER
STATE FOR USAID/DCHA/OFDA DAA WILLIAM GARVELINK
BANGKOK FOR OFDA SENIOR REGIONAL ADVISOR TOM DOLAN
KATHMANDU FOR OFDA REGIONAL ADVISOR WILLIAM BERGER
GENEVA FOR USAID NANCY KYLOH
USDA FOR FAS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: EAGR EAID ECON ENRG VM AFLU
SUBJECT: RECOVERING FROM DISASTER - A LOOK AT ONE PROVINCE
IN VIETNAM

Ref: Hanoi 2569



1. SUMMARY: A visit to the typhoon stricken province of
Thanh Hoa by US Embassy staff revealed a province struggling
with slow recovery from the Typhoon Damrey and a recent
outbreak of avian influenza in poultry. Damrey damaged or
destroyed more than 30,000 houses (out of more than 100,000
in 11 affected provinces),destroyed agricultural land, sea
dikes and left thousands displaced and homeless in the
province. The typhoon affected some of the most
economically underdeveloped areas of Vietnam. The
international community responded with over one million USD
in assistance, including 50,000 USD from USAID's Office for
Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA). Provincial officials
described their efforts in disaster mitigation planning and
preventative measures for avian influenza (AI). However,
they stressed lack of resources to provide sufficient direct
assistance to residents. They would welcome international
assistance for more direct service provision, shoring up and
improving sea dikes and the procurement of medical supplies
in the event of an avian influenza pandemic. END SUMMARY.

STRONGEST STORM IN TEN YEARS
--------------


2. Typhoon Damrey hit Northern Vietnam on September 26,
2005, a storm categorized by the Government of Vietnam as
the strongest to strike the country in ten years. With wind
forces reaching up to 132 kilometers per hour, the storm
reached Beaufort Scale 12 or a Category Two hurricane. The
typhoon created storm surges of up to ten feet in the
coastal provinces of Quang Ninh, Hai Phong, Thai Binh, Ninh
Binh, Nam Dinh and Thanh Hoa and localized flash floods in
the northern upland provinces of Yen Bai and Lao Cai. The
International Federation of the Red Cross and Crescent
(IFRC) reported that more than 100,000 houses were affected
by the storm surge and flash floods, hundred of thousands of

hectares of crops were damaged as seawater penetrated inland
as far as four kilometers. 90 people were reported dead or
missing. International donors have contributed over one
million USD to disaster relief, while the GVN estimates
total damage caused by Typhoon Damrey at 209 million USD.


3. In response to the damage caused by the typhoon,
Ambassador Marine declared a disaster (REFTEL) and USAID's
Office for Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA) mobilized
$50,0000 in support to Typhoon affected areas. The NGO
Catholic Relief Service (CRS) was selected to implement a
project with these funds to supply typhoon affected
residents of the costal areas of Thanh Hoa province with
shelter assistance, agricultural supplies, repair to dikes
and canals and salt production fields. Embassy DCM John
Boardman, accompanied by CRS and USAID Vietnam and staff,
visited Thanh Hoa on November 4, one of the 11 provinces
recently affected by Typhoon Damrey, to assess recovery in
the province. The team met with provincial leaders and
traveled to the communes hardest hit by the typhoon to speak
with local officials and residents.

THE PROVINCE RESPONDS
--------------


4. Provincial officials reported that 30,000 houses were
damaged; 70,000 hectares of farmland inundated with salt
water and 30 kilometers of dikes were damaged in Thanh Hoa.
They estimated provincial losses at 83 billion VND (five
million USD),a blow to an already poor and under-developed
area. At the same time, provincial officials are struggling
with typhoon relief, they are faced with the threat of avian
influenza; the H5N1 virus has reemerged in poultry in Thanh
Hoa and several other provinces within the past few weeks.
Provincial officials state they have managed to vaccinate
three million of the province's estimated thirteen million
birds and have culled 10,000 birds, but lack supplies to
engage in a larger scale culling should the government
mandate, and lack basic medical supplies to treat residents
in the event of a pandemic.


5. According to the Thanh Hoa People's Committee, the
Central Government has been able to only pledge around 300
USD support to housing repair in the Than Hoa, supplemented
by another 63,000 USD from province funds. The province has
also committed to provide the victims food relief for the
next three months and will pay for 50 percent of the seeds
needed for winter crops.


A VIEW FROM THE GROUND
--------------


6. The team visited local officials and villagers in two of
the coastal communes hit by the typhoon. A view from the
dirt tracks bisecting the villages revealed poor rural
communities likely struggling with economic difficulties
even before the typhoon. They now face the prospect of
further economic depression as the typhoon wiped out salt
production fields and saltwater contaminated much of the
rice paddies.


7. Local authorities pointed out houses damaged by the
typhoon. Many of the grey cement houses withstood the
storm surge and rains. However, a number collapsed while
adjacent houses were apparently undamaged. Six weeks after
the typhoon, rubble had been cleared, felled trees removed
but almost no reconstruction work was evident on the damaged
properties. Provincial officials attributed this to
difficulties in selecting beneficiaries. Many people wanted
housing repair, but according to CRS staff, there is not
enough money to go round. One woman stood in the rubble of
her home and attempted to clear the bricks by hand while
nonplussed provincial officials watched and an accompanying
TV crew filmed her labor.

REPAIR OF HOUSES AND LOOKING FOREWARD
--------------


8. CRS staff added that the villagers had asked for money
for crops and cash for work replanting the crops first.
Help to undertake housing repair was their second priority.
To date, CRS has provided the two communes with potato
seeds, cash for agricultural work, and a limited amount of
schools supplies to replace those destroyed by the storm.
CRS has already transferred money for housing repair to
commune officials, but the actual beneficiaries have not yet
been selected, as mentioned above.


9. With remaining OFDA funds and their own private funds,
CRS plans to assist repairing canals, dikes, salt production
flats and provide roofs for some of the houses. CRS adds
that the slow pace of housing repair using both CRS and
provincial funds can also be attributed to commune level
squabbles over selecting beneficiaries. Because funds are
insufficient to repair all houses, there has been
competition over who receives assistance. (CRS is working
with local officials on the problem of beneficiary selection
and has developed a transparent beneficiary selection
model.)

DISASTER PLANNING
--------------


10. The province demonstrated considerable efficiency in
evacuation, moving 120,000 people from coastal areas to
higher ground in advance of the storm. Villagers reported
that busses arrived three hours in advance of the storm and
took them to communal shelters on higher ground. Since the
event, they have been provided with food and water from the
province, and provincial officials said the province and
central government would need to continue supplying rice and
seeds to ensure food security for the next two months.

11. Provincial officials reported that they have been
involved in flood plain mapping in the region, and have an
effective evacuation system in place in the event of future
storms. A severe storm hits the province every five to ten
years, according to local officials. The deputy chairman of
the Provincial People's Committee said that they needed
international assistance to upgrade the sea dike system.
The dikes can currently handle storms up to Beaufort Scale 9
(a severe gale with winds up to 50 miles per hour). Local
officials added that flood damaged locations can be expected
to be damaged again in the future. In the meantime, they
are carrying out local mitigation activities including
replanting mangroves, working on evacuation plans and
awareness activities to prevent loss of life in future
storms.


MARINE