Flood emergency: Catholics and Caritas Vietnam at the forefront in aid

October's heavy rains in the central provinces have left an exhausted population. Food and water are lacking. Many parishes are submerged. Priests and bishops distribute food, seeds and feed for livestock. Caritas: "We are building new homes and giving scholarships to the poorest children."

Ho Chi Minh City (AsiaNews) - Bishops, priests and Caritas Vietnam are personally committed in supporting the populations affected by the October flood, who are still living in an emergency situation without running water or food. According to official statistics, the heavy rains throughout the last month killed 26 people, with dozens more missing and damaged more than 100 thousand homes in the central provinces of the country.

In late October the Vietnamese bishops had launched an appeal to help the affected populations.

Vĩnh Phước parish, the Diocese of Vinh (Nghe An province), suffered the worst damage. The church is located on the plain, near the Gianh River: "When it started to rain - the parishioners tell - the water came into the houses and within hours were up to chest levels. It is the first time for such violent rains to fall on the four central provinces. "

Liên Hoa parish (of Quang Binh province) also suffered serious damage because of the Gianh river breaking its banks. Fr. Michael Thái Hồ Bach, says: "The whole parish is submerged, in some places the water is 2.5 meters deep."

Many other parishes have met a similar fate, and most of the inhabitants had to flee.

From the outset, the Church has taken steps to bring relief. Fr. Vincent Điểm Cao Dương Đông, assistant pastor of Yên Giang, is helping the local population by bringing hundreds of portions of noodles, cooking oil, fish sauce and drinking water.

Msgr. Paul Nguyễn Thái Hop, Bishop of Vinh, visited the submerged populations of the provinces of Quang Binh and Ha Tinh bringing basic necessities (13 thousand containers of noodles, medicines) and donating one billion dong (about 42 thousand euro) to finance the reconstruction of buildings and purchase food.

Even Ho Chi Minh City Caritas is at the forefront in bringing comfort to hungry people: "We have supportedsome of the costs for the poorest families who have been swept away by the flood”, say the leaders. “We distributed plants,  seeds and livestock products to farmers. We have built several houses and set up scholarships for poor children who because of rains can no longer attend classes".

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