HFH Vietnam launches housing recovery project in typhoon-affected area

Huynh Van Tinh and his sons at what’s left of their collapsed house in Nui Thanh, Quang Nam.

HANOI, 9 October 2009--Habitat for Humanity Vietnam is launching an immediate disaster recovery project to provide roof replacements and other house repairs for approximately 5,000 households in Quang Nam province. By January, the organization expects to begin a program of new house construction and renovations to serve another 5,000 low-income families affected by Typhoon Ketsana.

Construction and management staff are being deployed to form a Habitat Resource Center to serve the central coastal and highlands areas.

“Following a joint-agency damage assessment and consultation with authorities, we are forming partnerships to provide transitional shelter for families that can’t afford the cost of repairs and reconstruction for safe housing,” said Sara Coppler, interim national director for Habitat for Humanity Vietnam.

Typhoon Ketsana struck the central coast of Vietnam on September 29, after dealing a devastating blow to the Philippines. The storm center made landfall about 80 km south of Danang, Vietnam’s fourth largest city. High winds and torrential rains damaged and flooded nearly 600,000 houses, according to the government’s Central Committee for Flood and Storm Control (CCFSC). In Quang Nam province, more than 15,000 houses collapsed and 155,000 houses suffered roof damage from the storm.