HÀ NỘI – World Vision is providing relief to vulnerable children and poor people in the southern province of Bình Thuận, suffering from the country’s worst drought in nearly a century.

The initial relief effort is worth some US$60,000 and focuses on providing drinking water and domestic water supply facilities.

Till date, more than 3,000 children and adults in the Hàm Thuận Bắc and Bắc Bình districts have benefited from the organisation’s work, which includes distributing clean water for 60 days (120 litres per person), water tanks, water pipes and water filters. The initiative began in late April and will continue until mid-May.

“We’re seeking further funding opportunities to expand our emergency relief efforts to more drought-affected people,” Lê Văn Dương, World Vision’s National Coordinator of Humanitarian and Emergency Affairs in Việt Nam, said.

Drought and saltwater intrusion began affecting the Mekong Delta last December, causing massive damage to the crops, threatening food security, worsening sanitation and affecting the people’s health.

World Vision’s actions in the two districts are in response to Việt Nam’s first-ever appeal for international support of some $48 million in April 2016 to address the prolonged drought and the saline intrusion impact in 20 provinces in the Mekong Delta, the South Central Coast and the Central Highlands.

World Vision has implemented 15-year area development programmes in Việt Nam, specifically in Hàm Thuận Bắc since 2007 and in Bắc Bình since 2005. The programmes have focused on nutrition, education, child protection and participation, livelihood, disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation.

So far, with World Vision’s help, the living conditions of more than 52,000 people, including vulnerable children, in the two districts have improved. — VNS