A flood-resilient house in Quảng Bình Province. —Photo courtesy of the Ministry of Construction.

HÀ NỘI — The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the WorldShare organisation have recently signed a cooperation agreement to build 73 flood-resilient houses for poor households affected by storms in the central province of Quảng Bình.

It is the second phase of support in their joint effort to help disadvantaged households that had their homes seriously damaged following the historic typhoon in 2020.

In the first phase, 39 safe houses were handed over to families in coastal areas in Lệ Thủy District in December 2021.

The activity was part of the crowdfunding campaign named “Safe Houses - Save Lives” launched by the UNDP in response to the Vietnamese Ministry of Planning and Investment’s appeal to help residents who met housing difficulties following the 2020 disasters.

UNDP Resident Representative in Việt Nam Caitlin Wiesen vowed to work closely with local authorities and people to complete the construction of 73 houses before the rainy season this June.

According to Director of the provincial Department of Planning and Investment Phan Phong Phú, two historic floods in 2020 in Quảng Bình left thousands of houses, schools and traffic work underwater, causing a loss of over VNĐ3.5 trillion (US$152.1 million). — VNS