Vietnam flood toll hits 71 as disease fears rise
HANOI — The death toll from Vietnam's typhoon and floods has reached 71, with 15 people listed as missing, amid rising fears of disease outbreaks in water-logged areas, officials said Wednesday.
The Red Cross launched a worldwide appeal for 2.7 million dollars in emergency aid to help 193,000 people hit by the floods, which have been the worst in decades in many regions.
At least 64 flood fatalities have been reported in northern and central Vietnam since Typhoon Lekima hit last week and killed seven people, said the Central Steering Committee for Storm and Flood Prevention and Control.
The floods have either destroyed or damaged more than 134,000 houses and inundated more than 160,000 hectares (400,000 acres) of rice fields and other crops, authorities said.
Relief and rescue activities involving emergency services and some 34,000 troops are still ongoing for the victims, many of whom have lived on rooftops and dykes, surviving on little food and clean water over the past week.
"The Vietnam Red Cross has distributed instant noodles and drinking water in the first days and will deliver rice for a month," said Tao Van Dang of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.
"We are procuring about 200 metric tonnes of rice to distribute in the next two weeks and we have 2,500 household kits, each with two blankets, a mosquito net and water containers. We have distributed 1,000 kits already."
According to state-run VTV television, health experts worry that epidemics may hit after the muddy flood waters recede, having polluted water wells and created new breeding areas for mosquitos.
The number of reported cases of diarrhoea and skin rashes had risen in some areas, state media reported.
Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Sinh Hung has told central Thanh Hoa province, one of the worst hit by the floods, to focus on helping local victims and preventing post-flood epidemics, the Thanh Nien online newspaper said.
The US embassy said it had given 100,000 dollars in disaster relief through the US Agency for International Development to support the Vietnamese Red Cross and was considering giving more aid in coming days.
Agence France Presse - October 10, 2007.
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