QUANG NGAI, Vietnam - A flood victim
in central Vietnam receives kitchen supplies and a blanket. In late October
and early November heavy rains caused severe flooding in central Vietnam
and Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) responded with $30,000 Cdn./$20,000
U.S. The funds went to purchase kitchen pots and pans, blankets, mosquito
nets, rice and iron sheets. Various groups, including Vietnamese Mennonites,
the local Vietnamese Red Cross and World Concern, are distributing these
items.
More rain fell in early December, temporarily
stranding Vietnamese Mennonites from Ho Chi Minh City who had traveled
to central Vietnam to distribute $4,500 Cdn./$3,000 U.S. worth of MCC and
Eastern Mennonite Mission relief items. The group was in Quang Ngai distributing
rice and blankets to victims of last month's floods, when heavy rain fell
again. Quang Nagi streets were covered with chest-deep water. The Mennonite
group finally made it safely home after a 24-hour road trip.
Over five days in early December, more than 6 feet of rain fell on some areas of central Vietnam, washing out rice crops replanted after the earlier floods.