Mrs Hien is married and has three children. Two of her three children, twins, haven’t been able to hear or speak since they were born. Mrs Hien and her husband earn their living by planting timber.
On 15 September, Typhoon Doksuri, the strongest typhoon in a decade, hit their hometown in the province of Ha Tinh, Vietnam.
Overnight, the place they once called home became nothing but a pile of rubble. The family of five are now living under a makeshift shelter – wooden pillars with a plastic sheet to protect them from the rain. Their water well no longer functions, so they are forced to rely on the generosity of others.
“We’re picking up whatever rubble we can still use to rebuild our house,” said Mrs Hien while recovering all the bits of wood and tiles lying around.
Reconstructing the house will cost about $2,500 AUD, an amount they can no longer afford since all their crops and timber were destroyed.
Like Mrs Hien and her family, hundreds of thousands of people in Vietnam have found themselves with nothing left following the destructive path of the typhoon. The houses of more than 962,000 people have been damaged. Many buildings, schools, clinics and major infrastructure have also been significantly damaged. In total, around 1.5 million people’s lives have been impacted.
CARE’s emergency teams have assessed what families need in the affected areas and will distribute hygiene kits with essentials like soap, toothbrushes and sanitary items, and will provide cash grants to families to start repairing their homes.
