Over 205 people have been killed or are missing as a result of tropical storm Kammuri due to landslides and floods in 11 provinces in northern Vietnam.

The storm has also left a massive amount of destruction in its wake with over 18,000 houses either destroyed, damaged and/or flooded; a significant amount of crops are expected to suffer losses; an unknown number of livestock have been killed; and major damage was caused to roads, bridges and dikes.

Impact on Plan programs

Plan Vietnam works in three of the eleven affected provinces, namely Phu Tho, Thai Nguyen and Ha Giang. Among these, Phu Tho experienced the most flooding and damage. Plan staff have been on-site assessing the situation since Monday, though access to many communities has been hampered by continuing high water levels. 

The most severely affected areas of Phu Tho are Ha Hoa, Cam Khe and Doan Hoan districts; all Plan sponsored communities. There are a total of 5,900 sponsored children in these three districts.

Children are currently on summer holidays until 9 September, however, many parents lost their livelihoods and now lack financial resources to pay for textbooks and school supplies as they must prioritize their immediate survival needs.

Support for Communities

Plan Vietnam will provide immediate relief needs to 7,000 adults and 6,000 children.

Supports to be provided include: rice, flour, milk, sugar, instant soup, vitamins, chlorine, and text books for children. This proposal represents the most immediate needs based on a rapid assessment that has been conducted over the last three days by Plan Phu Tho staff.

Plan Vietnam expects that affected communities will require an even greater amount of assistance in terms of reconstruction and rehabilitation. A reconstruction/rehabilitation proposal will be forthcoming in the next 2-3 weeks.

Plan Australia has not set up a fundraising appeal to support Plan Vietnam's response to the emergency, as it is expected that sufficient funds will be raised from other sources.

Information for Sponsors

As water levels have started to recede, Plan staff expects to have much greater access to communities in the coming days and be able to collect more detailed information.

Sponsors will be notified individually if we receive advice that their sponsored child has been affected.

If you have any particular concerns around this issue, please send a message to our Supporter Service team or call 13 PLAN.