Dear Donors,
We are delighted to inform you that your donations have reached the hands of the Xangsane Tropical Storm’s victims. In a coordinated effort, Doan Ket team has successfully transferred the money from our donors living in various countries to Vietnam and organized the first trip to one of the provinces most affected by the typhoon–Hoa Vang and Nai Dong districts of Da Nang Province.
Brief report:
The total amount donated by Doan Ket members and friends is roughly 3800 USD. The areas we visited are extremely poor. The annual income per household is roughly 300 USD; hence, the total donation money equals to the annual incomes of 13 households put together.
The entire fund hasn’t yet arrived in Vietnam; some of it is either in post offices or still in the form of commitments. The total cash available to Doan Ket team members in Vietnam was 58 million VND (roughly 3600 USD). Members who carried and distributed the donation to the victims are volunteers who used their own money to cover all costs associated with the trip such as transportation, food, and accommodation. Vu Thanh Ca, the relief team’s leader, contributed 10 millions VND to the relief fund himself.
We selected 108 households most heavily impacted by Xangsane in Hoa Vang and Nai Dong districts, Da Nang Province. Each household received from us about 33 USD, or 0.5 million VND. To see how much it’s worth, consider that building a smallest possible brick hut requires roughly 5 millions VND. These households did not receive any significant donation from other sources.
Picture 1: Vu Thanh Ca (middle of the photo), a highly committed
Doan Ket member, led the relief team.
Here are some excerpts from the report written by Vu Thanh Ca:
“In Hoa Son commune, we visited the family of Tu Uyen, a 12 years old girl who was killed by Xangsane. The storm ripped the house’s top and Tu Uyen took cover underneath her bed. Shortly after that, the whole building collapsed and fatally injured her. Her father took Tu Uyen and rushed to a local health center in the storm, but it was too late. She died in her father arms that night. Her mother’s arm was crushed in that event; she hasn’t got it treated since the family has no money…”
Picture 2: Tu Uyen’s altar. Next to her picture is her school uniform. The altar was set in a neighbor’s brick hut since Tu Uyen’s family has lost their home.
“We visited two other families whose members were killed during the storm. Their condition was so desperate that we decided to give them 3 millions VND of our pocket money.”
“Hoa Son commune had 512 houses totally destroyed. The central government’s relief fund sent to the commune was 250 millions VND (15,000 USD). Only 50 households in the commune received help, each got 5 millions VND. The remaining 462 households received some noodle packs and nothing else.”
“Building a small brick hut typically requires a lifetime saving of an entire family. When the hut is destroyed, the household can not rebuild it without external financial support. In most cases, their production equipments were also destroyed when the building collapsed, leaving the household members with no means of survival.”
Picture 3: Example of a typical hut where many Xangsane’s victims live.
“Every places we went to, people asked us about the relief team who lost their lives a few days back (1). The villagers cried when they learned about the fates of those unfortunate philanthropists. People who received money asked for donors’ contact information so that they may be able to send a thank you note.” (Team members didn’t give out donors information)
Picture 4: Names of victims received our donation and their signatures. Full contact info includes the victim’s name and the name of the commune. The poor villagers have no phone or fax number and the villages have no street address.
“The damages were great but our resource was limited. Since we could only offer 50 relief packages at one village, it was very difficult for us to select the right households to give money to… Those who did not receive anything ran after us crying as they asked why we didn’t help them—a question to which we did not have the right answer.”
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(1): An accident occurred in the Friday the 13th, 2006, killing a relief team of 12 people. They were on their way to Da Nang conduct a relief effort.
