QUẢNG NAM — The central Quảng Nam province, with support from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the Việt Nam Disaster Management Authority (VNDMA), Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, the Republic of Korea, in partnership with the Việt Nam Red Cross Society, has launched the Damrey housing recovery and rehabilitation project.

As planned, the first five of 80 resilient houses will be built for households which suffered damage from the typhoon in the province this year.

The project aims to support the building of 300 resilient houses in three central provinces of Khánh Hòa, Phú Yên and Quảng Nam.

The major beneficiaries of the project are the poor and near-poor families whose houses were heavily damaged by the recent Typhoon Damrey. They also will be provided with the necessary knowledge and resources to repair and rebuild their houses to ensure that new houses can withstand future typhoons and floods.

Typhoon Damrey, which was the twelfth to hit Việt Nam last year, was the strongest one in 2017. It battered some of the poorest communities of the south-central coastal region. More than 130,000 homes were damaged, of which over 3,500 were destroyed. Dozens of displaced families have had to live in temporary and unsafe shelters.

“This project will help the typhoon-hit families to have safer houses after Typhoon Damrey”, said Đoàn Thị Tuyết Nga, Director of the Department of International Cooperation under the VNDMA.

Home is not only where the heart is, but also the biggest asset of local people. Building resilient houses is very important to save lives and mitigate the property losses.

“Helping vulnerable people to recover is one of the mandates of UNDP,” said UNDP Deputy Country Director, Akiko Fujii.

She explained that the housing recovery and rehabilitation project will ensure the safety of communities and help them enhance their resilience against future disasters.

"The Korean government is happy to join this effort to support Vietnamese people affected by Damrey in the central region by contributing US$1 million to the house repair project. As a friend and close development partner of Việt Nam, Korea will continue to support Việt Nam’s government in its efforts to overcome challenges posed by climate change. We hope that this project will bring hope and resilience back to the affected people", ambassador of the Republic of Korea to Việt Nam, Lee Hyuk said.

Director of the Disaster Management Department, Việt Nam Red Cross, Nguyễn Thu Hà said: “The support of UNDP and the Republic of Korea is very useful for the local affected communities. It can prevent them from falling back into poverty and enhance their resilience.” — VNS