Samaritan’s Purse sent tons of emergency aid to help Vietnamese families struggling after the destructive storm.
Update: Victims of Typhoon Damrey have expressed their thanks to Samaritan’s Purse for bringing them much needed relief, with some indicating this is the first aid they have received. Distributions of airlifted supplies, including tarps and cooking kits, began as scheduled on Sunday, Nov. 26. For the final update on this response, go here.
Our relief response has been completed in two provinces already, with two more ongoing. Distributions in the fifth province begin Tuesday, Nov. 28.
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On Nov. 24, a Samaritan’s Purse-chartered cargo plane filled with nearly 100 metric tons of emergency relief supplies arrived in Da Nang, Vietnam, in response to a deadly typhoon earlier this month.
The plane was stocked with heavy-duty shelter tarp and cooking kits—enough supplies to help 10,000 households in the country’s south-central coastal region. There were also hygiene kits, blankets, mosquito nets, and jerry cans in varying amounts.
Typhoon Damrey roared ashore on Nov. 4, the 12th tropical storm to strike the country this year. Officials say Damrey was the strongest storm to make landfall in this particular region in the last 20 years.
Samaritan’s Purse has a country office in Vietnam and responded quickly. Our staff members are working closely with government officials to meet the needs of people affected. Teams have fanned out across the region to distribute airlifted relief materials to families in villages of five provinces devastated by the storm.
More than 100 people died and nearly 200 were injured in the typhoon. Winds of almost 100 miles per hour raked the region, crushing homes, ripping up farmland, damaging crops, and inundating huge swaths of the region with up to 10 feet of water. Areas in five provinces remain submerged.
Some of the provinces hit by Damrey are among the poorest in the country. Farmers there saw their fields ravaged and their harvests of rice and vegetables wiped out. Thousands of marine cages, used for fishing, were also destroyed.
Franklin Graham, who is the president of Samaritan’s Purse and the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, is scheduled to speak at the Love Hanoi Festival, Dec. 8-10, in the capital city.
An Operation Christmas Child distribution event is also scheduled during Graham’s visit to the country.
Note: This article was originally posted on Nov. 24 and updated on Nov. 27. The latest and final update can be found here.