Residents of Sanamxay districts receive donations (Source: VNA)Hanoi (VNA) - The Vietnamese Government has sofar donated 200,000 USD sourced from State budget reserves and 100 tonnes of rice to the Lao Government in order to help the neighbouringcountry overcome the aftermath of the collapseof the Sepien-Senamnoi hydropower dam.
The NationalCommittee on Incident, Disaster Response and Search and Rescue’s office hasalso asked the Government to allocate 150 sets of canvas shelters from thenational reserve for the relief.
By the afternoon of July 27, the Ministry of Defence instructed Military Region5 to organise forces of more than 100 officers and soldiers, as well as nine vehicles,medicine for 500 people, food, and bottled water totalling 450 million VND(18,900 USD) for the relief work in Laos.
Military Corp 15 has provided 10 million LAK (1,250USD) to assist survivors in the province. Meanwhile, 200 people in theaffected areas were given free medical examinations the same day. Armed forcesof Military Region 5 also coordinated with Lao authorities to direct trafficand search for missing people.
Vietnam’s diplomatic representative agencies in Laos, and associations of theVietnamese Community in Laos also raised over 10,000 USD to assist the damcollapse victims.
The Ministry of Public Security’s representatives in Laos on July 30 handedover 50,000 USD to the Lao Ministry of Public Security to help the victims andthe Attapeu police overcome consequences of the incident.
The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development handed over 300 million VND(12,600 USD) to the Lao Embassy in Hanoi.
Meanwhile, the Ho Chi Minh CommunistYouth Union’s Central Committee, and the Vietnam Red Cross Society (VRCS) also donated21,000 USD and 50,000 USD, respectively, to the flooding victims.
On July 30, the VRCS sent a delegation to Attapeu to present relief supplies tothe victims, and will continue to call for more donations from enterprises forthe work.
Authorities from Ho Chi Minh City also planned to send a delegation to Attapeufrom August 1-2 to present 100,000 USD in cash and relief supplies to the Laolocality.
As a locality sharing a border with Attapeu, the central province of Kon Tum donated550 million VND (23,770 USD) in cash and 200 million VND (8,644 USD) worth ofrelief supplies to the dam collapse victims.
Thua Thien-Hue and Gia Lai provinces donated 10,000 USD and 400 million VND(17,288 USD) to the victims.
Star Telecom, ajoint venture between Lao Asia Telecom and Vietnam’s Viettel Group,provided 35,700 USD in aid to victims via the Lao Ministry of Labour and SocialWelfare.
At the same time, Hoang Anh Gia Lai offered 50 tonnes of rice; 100,000 packs ofnoodles; 5 tonnes of dried fish; 2,000 sets of clothes; as well as other reliefsupplies to victims. The Hoang Anh Gia Lai Medical University Hospital also sentits medical workers to Attapeu in order to provide free check-ups and medicine forlocals.
The Ministry of Industry and Trade on July 30 raised funds to help Lao peopleaffected the incident.
At present, there are many ministries, sectors, and localities active infundraising for the relief work.
The Sepien-Senamnoi hydropower dam collapsed at 8pm on July 23, causing massivefloods which completely isolated six villages in the Sanamxay district ofAttapeu province.
Some 587 families with 3,060 people werereportedly made homeless, while more than 100 people were still unaccountedfor.
The 410MW capacity hydropower plant is beingconstructed by the Sepien-Senamnoi Power Company (PNPC), which is a joint ventureof SK Engineering and Construction (SK E&C) and Korea Western Power(KOWEPO) from the Republic of Korea, Ratchaburi Electricity Generating Holding(RATCH) from Thailand, and Lao Holding State Enterprise (LHSE).
Construction of the project, which is estimatedto cost 1.02 billion USD, began in February 2013 and commercial operations wereexpected to begin this year. –VNA
VNA
