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Viet Nam:Flood:2000/09

Duration2000/09 The water levels in the Mekong river system have been rising rapidly, causing a deterioration in the flood situation in Viet Nam. The average amount of rainfall in the centre and downstream of the Mekong river delta during the last two months has been much higher than during the same period last year. As of 12 September, the floods have caused damage in the provinces of Long An, Kien Giang, An Giang, Can Tho and Dong Thap.Total estimated economic loss is USD 182 million.There have been 211 children among the 280 people killed by the floods
Country or DistrictViet Nam
NameFlood

Headline(Source, Date)
Personal Injury Material Damage Others
UNICEF 2000/10/27
Over 200,000 families (approximately 1 million people) are lacking food to date, and some 700,000 households (3.5 million people) may ultimately need food assistance over the next five months.
Over 60,000 households (approximately 300,000 people) remain in need of evacuation, with another 12,500 households (60,000 people) in need of further evacuation.

Approximately 825,000 homes have been inundated, rendering 4 million persons homeless or without adequate shelter.
Some 3,000 schools have been inundated as well, and considerable quantities of teaching materials have been damaged or lost. The Government estimates that over 800,000 children are currently missing school.
Total economic losses from the floods are estimated to be US$ 257 million.





OCHA Situation Report No. 5 2000/10/13
On 8 October 315 people, of whom 234 were children, were reported to have died in the floods. On 10 October the UNICEF office in Hanoi gave the figure of 319 deaths due to the floods, and on 12 October the media reported as many as 340 deaths from the floods.
Approximately 5 million people (815,000 households) have been affected by the disaster. Some 350,000 have been relocated, and another 335,000 people are still in need of relocation. In addition, 110,000 people need to be re-evacuated to safer areas.



Over 815,000 houses have been inundated and damaged. Over 70,000 ha of summer/autumn and third seasonal rice fields have been destroyed or damaged together with over 70,000 ha of subsidiary crops and fruit trees.






OCHA Situation Report No. 4 2000/10/04
Casualties
People killed:242 (including 194 children)
Households affected:762,065
Households evacuated:40,308
Households needing assistance:151,225

Houses destroyed:2,003
Rice damaged/destroyed:78,554 ha
Subsidiary crop areas damaged/destroyed:63,030 ha
Infrastructure
Schools/classrooms flooded:14,382
Hospitals/Clinics flooded:277
Roads damaged:9,951 km
Bridges destroyed/damaged:12,137 units
Total estimated economic loss:USD 182 mil.



OCHA Situation Report No. 3 2000/09/25
Casualties 
People killed:108 (including 66 children)
Households affected:554,571
Households evacuated:41,893
Households needing assistance:71,726

Houses destroyed:846
Schools flooded:8,639
Hospitals/Clinics flooded:175
Roads damaged:6,412 km
Bridges destroyed/damaged:576




UNICEF 2000/09/22
The latest reports indicate that flooding has caused the deaths of at least 60 people, including 51 children. Figures continue to rise. As many as 2 million persons are without adequate shelter.





AFP No.2 2000/09/22
The floods, caused by heavy rains beginning in late July, have left more than two million people homeless.
Floods caused an estimated 30 million dollars worth of damage.
Officials said a total of 400,000 homes were under water and some 500,000 people were short of food, water and medicine.
Some 300,000 hectares (741,000 acres) of rice fields have been flooded in the Mekong



OCHA Situation Report No. 2 2000/09/21
People killed 26
Households requiring evacuation 36,591
Households evacuated 18,959

Houses inundated/damaged 379,955
Houses destroyed 429
Summer-autumn rice destroyed 23,819 ha
Third-seasonal rice destroyed 10,939 ha

Schools flooded 1,076
Inter-provincial/district/communal roads inundated 2,200 km
Bridges destroyed/damaged 276 units

Xinhua 2000/09/19
So far 225,425 households in the three provinces in the delta have been inundated by the floods with 24,981 households, totaling 124,905 people, evacuated.
The delta's initial damage stands at more than 320 billion Vietnamese dong (22.9 million U.S. dollars), of which Dong Thap province suffered the biggest loss with 10.7 million U.S. dollars, An Giang province 3.9 million U.S. dollars and Long An province 8. 3 million U.S. dollars.


OCHA Sittuation Report No. 1 2000/09/13


Households inundated: 26,740
Households requiring evacuation: 23,686
Households needing assistance: 15,848
Houses flooded: 28,129
Houses destroyed: 85
Houses damaged: 2,204
Schools flooded: 243
Inter-provincial, district and communal roads inundated: 1,231 km
River dykes damaged: 33 km


Summer-autumn rice crop
Inundated rice area: 321,710 ha
Completely destroyed rice area: 23,819 ha

AFP 2000/09/13
Some 6,000 families have been evacuated from flooded areas and another 13,000 will be shifted in the next few weeks. Some 16,000 families in the region are suffering from shortages of food and medicine.


More than 100,000 hectares (247,000 acres) of rice paddies have been flooded and 28,000 homes damaged, leaving a trail of damage estimated at 20 million dollars.


Specific Matters

Related Links
Report/Articles
  • IFRC 2000/10/31

  • UNICEF 2000/10/27
    Safe drinking water and environmental sanitation remain serious concerns. Most families continue to live in crowded, unhealthy conditions, and most are consuming polluted river water.

  • AFP 2000/10/23
    Floods in the Mekong Delta which have claimed 407 lives, including 291 children and babies, have receded over the past few days, officials said. "The Mekong water levels have fallen, in general, by 60 to 70 cm relative to the peak levels reached in September but they will remain high until the end of the month," said Nguyen Van Trung, the chief of the Regional Committee for Flood Control.
  • OCHA Situation Report No. 6 2000/10/20
    Some 670,000 people have either been relocated or are in urgent need of relocation. While the Vietnamese Government has made every possible effort to alleviate the impact of the disaster, its relief capacity has been overwhelmed. As agreed with the Government, the UN has assisted with assessments of damage and needs as well as provision of relief to the flood victims.
  • Reuters 2000/10/18
    The U.S. Air Force flew in emergency shelter for thousands of victims of Vietnam's floods on Wednesday as deaths from the catastrophe reached 485. The toll includes 374 in the Delta, 60 in central and southern areas to the north and 51 in two northern provinces. The floods have claimed the lives of 283 children.

  • AFP 2000/10/17
    Flood waters continued to rise in the Mekong Delta Tuesday sparking fears that residents of the worst hit areas would be unable to harvest a spring rice crop.
  • Reuters 2000/10/16
    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.

  • AFP 2000/10/13
    Torrential rains lashed central Vietnam again overnight sparking flash floods which killed 11 people and further strained the region's already swollen rivers, the regional disaster unit said Friday.
  • OCHA Situation Report No. 5 2000/10/13
    Access to the affected areas is extremely difficult, rendering accurate assessment of infrastructural damage well-nigh impossible; it is, however, clear that the extent of infrastructural damage to roads, bridges, dykes, communications and electricity networks and wells is very high.
  • IFRC 2000/10/11

  • AFP 2000/10/10
    The United Nations called for as much as 10 million dollars in reconstruction aid for the flood-stricken Mekong Delta Tuesday following what it described as an unprecedented appeal from Vietnam to the international community.
  • Reuters 2000/10/06
    The Red Cross is rushing emergency rice supplies and life belts to families running short of food in Vietnam's flood-devastated Mekong Delta, where dozens of children are dying each day, the agency said on Friday.
  • AFP 2000/10/06
    The Vietnamese authorities are preparing to deal with a new threat to the commercial capital of Ho Chi Minh City from the flooding in the Mekong Delta, relief officials said Friday. Water levels on the city's western outskirts are expected to rise over the next 10 days after torrential rains upstream in the Vam Co Dong valley.
  • Reuters 2000/10/05
    The death toll rose to 280 on Thursday in prolonged floods in Vietnam's Mekong Delta and state media warned of new hazards -- cholera and crocodiles swimming downriver from Cambodia.
  • AFP 2000/10/05
    Landslides sparked by torrential rains killed 40 people in a remote district of northwestern Vietnam, state television reported Thursday. The disaster struck on Tuesday night in the Sin Ho district of Lai Chau province, close to the Laotian border, the television said.
  • Reuters 2000/10/04
    Flood deaths over the past month hit 258 on Wednesday, including 205 children, provincial officials said.
    The International Red Cross said on Wednesday it plans emergency rice supplies for hundreds of thousands of victims, while the Australian Air Force will airlift blankets.

  • OCHA Situation Report No. 4 2000/10/04
    The Vietnamese Government informed that boats are still the first priority for emergency relief and the Government has provided USD 1.8 million to purchase boats. The Government has also identified the need for 125,000 tons of rice to assist 500,000 households.The number of households which need to be provided with food would likely raise to 700,000 households (approximately 3 million people).
  • AFP 2000/10/03
    Police mobilized residents to erect sandbag walls on the outskirts of Ho Chi Minh City Tuesday as floodwaters from the swollen Mekong river threatened to submerge Vietnam's commercial capital of seven million people.
  • AFP 2000/10/01
    A total of 230 people, 184 of them children, have now been confirmed dead.More than 35,000 families had been evacuated by army rescue teams, but another 60,000 were still hanging on above the floodwaters.
  • AFP 2000/09/29
    Vietnam stepped up efforts to evacuate hundreds of thousands of people stranded in flooded areas of the Mekong delta Friday as aid agencies expressed concern at the number of people still without access to relief supplies.
  • UNICEF 2000/09/29
    Over 600,000 homes are inundated, and approximately 3 million persons are homeless or without adequate shelter. The Government is estimating that approximately 50,000 households (250,000 people) remain in need of evacuation.
    Food shortages are a serious concern. There are an estimated 40,000 to 50,000 households currently facing hunger.
  • Reuters 2000/09/29
    The body count in the worst floods for decades to hit Vietnam's Mekong Delta reached 187 on Friday and the United Nations said it was alarmed by the high proportion of child casualties. Food shortages were afflicting thousands of children and cases of diarrhoea were up 150 percent. Outbreaks of other diseases, like cholera, dengue and malaria would take an even greater toll as the floods receded in coming months.
  • Reuters 2000/09/28 No.2
    Unrelenting floods in Vietnam's Mekong Delta have killed 168 people and waters are likely to stay high until late-November, increasing the death toll and delaying planting of the main rice crop, officials said on Thursday.
  • Reuters 2000/09/28
    The Red Cross warned on Thursday that floods along the Mekong River, which have killed more than 400 and caused widespread misery and damage this year, would worsen in coming years due to climate change and deforestation.
  • Reuters 2000/09/27
    The number of reported deaths in the worst floods to hit Vietnam's Mekong Delta in decades rose by 30 to 149 on Wednesday, most of them children, and officials warned high sea tides would increase water levels in coming days.
  • UNDP 2000/09/26

  • OCHA Situation Report No. 3 2000/09/25
    So far, the Vietnamese Government has committed a total of USD 3.5 million for the flood-affected provinces. Provincial governments in the affected areas have themselves allocated USD 5.4 million.
    While the Vietnamese Government has made no official appeal for international assistance to date, the Government has indicated that it would welcome international assistance to help the victims in flooded areas.
  • Reuters 2000/09/25
    Water levels in Vietnam's flood-hit Mekong Delta have at last started to recede as the death toll in Vietnam from the worst flooding in decades hit 100 on Monday, officials said.
  • AFP No.2 2000/09/22
    Fifty people have died in Vietnam's Mekong Delta in the worst flooding in the region in 40 years, according to a new toll released by local authorities on Friday. All of the deaths have been in the provinces of An Giang, Dong Thap and Long An.
  • AFP 2000/09/22
    The World Food Programme (WFP) will send immediate food aid to 40,000 people affected by massive floods from the Mekong River in southeast Asia, the UN agency announced Friday.
  • UNICEF 2000/09/22
    Flooding continues to worsen. Floodwaters in Viet Nam's upper Mekong Delta are continuing to rise at a rate of 5-15 cm a day, and are now only 5-10 cm below the levels recorded during the catastrophic 1961 floods. The Dong Thap, An Giang, Long An, Kien Giang and Can Tho provinces are all completely flooded. While water levels in central and northern Cambodia are beginning to recede, water levels in Viet Nam are expected to continue rising for a minimum five more days.
    High water levels are likely to persist into late October, and many families may not be able to return to their homes until November or December.

  • AFP 2000/09/21
    The Vietnamese disaster control official said Thursday there was a growing fear in the Mekong delta that "the pollution from the ground water has reached dangerous levels in certain areas of the delta."

  • AFP 2000/09/20 No.2
    The most serious floods in 40 years to hit Vietnam's Mekong delta have claimed 43 lives, with more provinces affected, officials said Wednesday. The water level rose to alarming levels in An Giang and flooded three more provinces -- Vinh Long, Tien Giang et Can Tho.
  • Reuters 2000/09/20
    A Vietnamese Red Cross official in An Giang said the floods had spread to several districts of the Delta provinces of Can Tho, Kien Giang and Tien Giang and also threatened areas further downstream towards the coast.
  • AFP 2000/09/20
    The death toll from floods devastating mainland southeast Asia rose to over 200 Wednesday.
    As many as 500,000 Vietnamese have been affected by the floods and are in need of food, drinking water and medicine.
  • UNDP/DMU
    Report on Flood Situation by Disaster Management Unit (UNDP/DMU) at the Vietnamese Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development
  • OCHA Situation Report No. 2 2000/09/21
    According to the Vietnamese Hydro-meteorological Service, water levels rose at an increasingly rapid pace up until 21 September, and will continue to rise. It is expected that the peak floodwater level will last for up to one week. Then the floodwater will move to downstream provinces and slowly decrease over a period of 2 months.
  • AFP 2000/09/19
    Four million people are now affected by the worst floods in a generation sweeping down the Mekong River basin, the heart of mainland southeast Asia's rice bowl.
  • Xinhua 2000/09/19
    The floods, which hit Vietnam's Mekong delta for more than two months, have claimed at least 27 lives, local daily Vietnam News reported Tuesday.
    The worst floods in the delta for decades also left hundreds of thousands of people needing evacuation.
  • UNDP 2000/09/19
    In the next five days, the upstream flood water levels on the Tien and Hau Rivers will rise slowly. By 23 September 2000, the flood water level on the Tien River at the Tan Chau gauging station will likely rise to 5.10 m (0.90 m above Alarm Level III); that on the Hau River at the Chau Doc gauging station will rise to 4.90 m (1.40 m above Alarm Level III), then remain at very high levels.
  • DPA 2000/09/18
    Hundreds of thousands of farmers in Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam - their lives devastated by the region's worst flooding in decades - abandoned their homes on Monday as their governments expressed fears of looming epidemics and food shortages.
  • Reuters 2000/09/17
    The Red Cross says its could be late November before the waters recede. It says most of the flood victims are the poorest of the poor peasants and the longer the floods go on the risks of serious outbreaks of disease increases.

  • BBC News 2000/09/14
    In Pictures: The Mekong floods
  • Reuters 2000/09/15
    The Red Cross said on Friday it was appealing for fresh emergency aid for Vietnam, where the worst floods in decades have killed at least 13 people and driven up to 150,000 from their homes.
  • DPA 2000/09/14
    Widespread flooding in Vietnam's Mekong Delta could force more than 500,000 people from their homes before receding, relief officials said on Thursday. Water levels in the Mekong River and its major tributaries have already exceeded alarm level three - the highest category, which is defined as having a potential for widespread uncontrolled flooding and severe infrastructure damage.
  • AFP 2000/09/14
    Flooding in south Vietnam's Mekong Delta has killed eight people, while water levels continue to climb each day.The government has granted 3.5 million dollars in aid to the inhabitants of battered regions.
  • OCHA Sittuation Report No. 1 2000/09/13
    Since early July, the Vietnamese Central Government, in cooperation with provincial and local authorities, has taken preparedness and emergency measures to mitigate the impact of the floods.
  • DPA 2000/09/13
    Vietnam has launched a nationwide appeal to help the victims of flooding in the southern Mekong Delta which has killed at least eight people and made more than 50,000 homeless.
  • AFP 2000/09/13
    Some 243 primary and secondary schools in An Giang, Dong Thap and Long An provinces were flooded a few days after the holidays ended on September 5.
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