At the end of October 2008, the North of Vietnam experienced some of the worst flooding for forty years. Many areas in and around Ha Noi were heavily flooded. Thanh Oai district, which is about 30km outside of Hanoi, experienced some of the heaviest rain in the area. The rainfall measured 950 mm, inundating the whole area in some places up to 2m deep. Public infrastructure such as roads, schools and preschools were destroyed other areas where we work suffered heavy crop damage and the poor especially were struggling to cope with this disaster.

OUR RESPONSE

We visited all the areas mentioned to assess the extent the need. We also wanted to find out what resources were available to those affected by the flooding and to assess the most appropriate way to help.The main areas that we concetrated on were agriculture recovery and preschool assistance. 

Agriculture recovery

Luc Nam District, Bac Giang

The devestation of the winter vegetable crop was widespread In Bac Giang many had lost their Autumn rice crop in the September floods as well as their vegetable crops.

In consultation with local Agricultural experts we assisted the poorest families by giving rice seeds and phosphate fertilizer.Bac Lung – 500 families were given rice seeds and fertilizer and in Kham Lang 383 families were given fertilizer.

Training was also given to the Bac Lung commune as we discovered some of the methods they traditionally used for rice farming were considered outdated and less productive. This was not needed in Kham Lang as we had begun an agriculture program there before the floods that had provided training and the assistance given helped the poorest farmers recover the loses they had invested in fertilizer from the destroyed crop.

Ba Vi District, Hanoi 2

In Ba Vi District there was still enough time for them to replant their winter vegetable crop using newer varieties that took a shorter time to grow. So the assistance was in the form of vegetable seeds such as kale, soybeans and corn. We were able to assist  2,128 in three communes.

Seeds and fertilizer were purchased from reputable dealers, after prices were thoroughly checked and distributed to the family representatives directly.

After a week or two or so we went and visited some the families to see how they were doing you can read some of their stories.

Preschool assistance

With YWAM, children are the first priority when two communities requested  YWAM’s help witht their preschools after the floods We did an assessment and we saw first hand that the school had lost a lot of their equipment and were struggling to run normal preschool activities so we decided to help where we could:

We engaged the local teachers in identifing what they needed and going with them to get quotes etc. Identifying the most suitable supplies and equipment.

We were able to supply the two communes with the following; 185 desks, 370 chairs,  42 corner stands for toys etc, 60 blankets, 40 sleeping platforms,  4 water pumps, 2 cassette players, 1 organ, various teaching aids, notice boards, toys etc and we were able to engage someone to repair the outdoor play equipment that had been seriously damaged in the flood. The communities, especially the teachers and parents were very greatful for this help as it was important for the children to have stability as their parents try and overcome the severe hardships the flood has caused. The head teacher in My Hung comented that she had learnt a lot in the process of working with us about how to better manage and select equipment and how to work in a transparent way.  She comments the approach was very clear. The assistance came in a timely way yet still met their need and all the supplies were of a good quality meeting the government preschool criteria.