Nguyễn Tiến Điệp, a member of the team Ứng Cứu Thiên Tai Ba Miền, carries an elderly woman who was stranded alone in the floodwaters and urgently needed dialysis, transporting her from the Quy Nhon Bac area to the hospital.

Thu Vân

ĐẮK LẮK - As floods swallowed neighbourhoods across the central provinces, when entire communities were cut off and the current swept away not only homes, but hope, the volunteer rescuers of the Ứng Cứu Thiên Tai Ba Miền (Three-Region Disaster Response Team) once again headed straight into the storm.

Rushing into the water when the water rushes in

Torrential rain from the night of November 18 until dawn the next day submerged thousands of households across the Quy Nhơn area of Gia Lai Province. Water surged into homes while many areas were cut off entirely.

That very night, the motorboat rescue team of Ứng Cứu Thiên Tai Ba Miền set off for the Quy Nhơn Bắc area.

By the morning of November 20, the rain eased and water in the old urban area began to recede. Yet to the east of Gia Lai Province, many communes remained submerged. Roads were severed. Entire villages were still unreachable.

Lê Huy Toàn, a resident living in Unit 10 of Quy Nhơn Bắc area, was still shaken as he recalled the historic flood.

“I’ve lived here many years, but I’ve never seen the water rise this high,” he said.

In those pockets of isolation, the group’s motorboats and cranes moved relentlessly, ferrying essential supplies to Quy Nhơn Psychiatric Hospital, the city’s Tuberculosis and Lung Hospital, and flood-trapped neighbourhoods.

During one delivery, rescuer Nguyễn Tiến Điệp encountered an elderly woman stranded alone in the floodwaters, urgently needing dialysis. He brought her out just in time.

Later, during a second run, the team saw a psychiatric patient being swept more than 50 metres from the hospital yard out towards the road. Điệp jumped into the torrent without hesitation. From a nearby landing, teammate Đỗ Văn Minh dived in to assist. Together, supported by the group’s motorboat team, they fought the current and brought the patient back alive.

Điệp and Minh are just two of the many members of the network’s rapid-response motorboat team – volunteers who repeatedly risk their lives for strangers.

The team did not start as an organisation. It began with individuals, from all parts of the country, carrying the same quiet conviction that someone must help those trapped.

What started as scattered acts of compassion became a coordinated, highly mobile volunteer force – able to deploy within hours, adapt to different scenarios and support each other through the most precarious situations.

In 2025 alone, they answered cries for help in Lạng Sơn, Bắc Ninh, Đà Nẵng, Gia Lai and Đắk Lắk, often trying to arrive early and reach the most isolated areas.

The long night roads to Phú Yên

On the night of November 20, more teams were mobilised for Phú Yên: drone teams from Phú Thọ Province, HCM City, Hà Tĩnh Province, and more motorboat teams from Hồ Chí Minh City and Đà Nẵng City. 

Roads were blocked by landslides and heavy congestion. Many drove for long hours without rest. But they pressed on, understanding that every hour could be the difference between life and death for someone waiting on a rooftop.

Once deployed, each motorboat was staffed by two or three people – a pilot and one or two assistants – navigating powerful currents to evacuate families, transport the injured to hospitals, deliver food and medicine, and, in the most heartbreaking missions, bring back those who had not survived so their families could begin the final rites.

Members of the team help bring a woman in the flooded area to safety. Photos courtesy of Thuyền Từ Bát Nhã

The drone teams operated in areas where boats could not reach, dropping food, medicine and water into isolated clusters of homes and public buildings. They later returned to conduct disinfection operations in places where post-flood contamination posed a serious health risk.

Điệp, now a university student, recalls joining the team during Storm No. 13 in Đà Nẵng City.

“When you’re living safely but so many others are fighting for survival, you feel you must give something of yourself. Even a small act matters,” he says.

“Of course, I’m scared when we steer into violent currents. Everyone is. But once you’re out there, you think only of the people waiting on rooftops for someone to reach them.” 

Bùi Văn Cường, a motorboat operator from Hà Nội, added: “When the storm hits, the calls for help come from everywhere. We can’t sleep, so we think we have to go. We’re only afraid of one thing: not getting there in time.” 

He stressed how dangerous the water in Đắk Lắk Province was. 

“The water there is vicious," Cường said.

"Without experienced pilots and local guides, rescue becomes impossible.”

Members of the team brought food and drinks to stranded families in the Đông Hoà area of Hoà Thịnh Commune, Đắk Lắk Province.

While the motorboat teams were navigating fierce currents, the drone unit, comprising eight drones and flycams operated by nine members, was working across other flooded zones in Đắk Lắk Province. From above, they delivered relief packages into areas no boat could reach, guiding supplies safely to stranded families.

When the emergency phase passed, a smaller drone group remained on site, offering free aerial support to help local authorities spray disinfectant and restore sanitary conditions in communities blanketed by mud, debris and the risk of disease outbreaks.

“Post-flood environments carry many hidden dangers of infection. I just want to do what I can for the people here,” said Trần Ngọc Bình, a drone team member from HCM City who stayed behind to assist with the environmental disinfection effort.

The quiet backbone of logistics

While motorboats and drones draw the attention, the backbone of the operation lies elsewhere: the logistics force - working quietly, endlessly, often out of sight.

They locate temporary warehouses, receive and sort aid, coordinate trucks across provinces, and ensure each package reaches the right place at the right time.

In recent missions, the group’s logistics units operated simultaneously in Hà Nội, Đà Nẵng, Quảng Ngãi and on the ground in Phú Yên.

From these hubs, they distributed over 200 tonnes of aid.

Đà Nẵng Sports University swimming instructor Phan Thanh Tin, 47, has become a pillar of the logistics division.

When a former student sent him photos of submerged villages in Nghệ An earlier this year, he immediately purchased a motorboat in Hạ Long and arranged overnight transport to Đà Nẵng.

His house turned into a coordination centre.

Students and friends carried donations. Tin mapped routes, assigned missions, and ensured boats and drivers reached the most desperate areas.

When the floods shifted to Gia Lai and Đắk Lắk, he once again worked around the clock, coordinating convoys of aid trucks to Phú Yên.

“People in Phú Yên need much more help in the coming days," he said.

"I hope we can continue this chain of kindness until homes are rebuilt, livelihoods restored and children have books and clothes to return to school.”

Nguyễn Thanh Tú, from Bắc Ninh, joined the group when her hometown was flooded after Storm Matmo.

Initially a local guide helping with navigation and distribution in Bắc Giang, she later travelled with the group into Phú Yên, taking on exhausting, day-long shifts in the distribution centres.

“You just get swept into the pace of the work. Seeing everyone’s dedication, you want to contribute too,” she said.

“We were lucky to receive so much help: local volunteers lending warehouses, youths and students loading trucks, people guiding us through isolated villages. Without them, none of this would be possible.”

Hồ Ngọc Thanh, a team member in Đà Nẵng City, worked tirelessly to connect all those who want to help. 

“Because we all walked toward the same purpose, we created bonds that stretched across regions, a quiet but powerful force that helped us reach those who needed us most,” he said.

“Rebuilding lives will take a long time. We hope this spirit of sharing continues, so homes can be repaired, livelihoods restored, and children return to school with warm clothes and full notebooks.” VNS