Hanoi: The death toll in devastating
floods in central Vietnam rose to 62 as authorities rushed aid
to about 100,000 people facing food shortages, officials said
on Saturday.
Fourteen additional bodies were recovered over two days,
and authorities were searching for 20 people still missing,
the national floods and storms control committee said on its
website.
The floods have caused an estimated damage of 2.2
trillion dong (USD 110 million) to crops and infrastructure,
the committee said.
In the worst-hit province of Quang Binh, where 42 people
died and another 17 remain missing, authorities were scurrying
to deliver aid to victims, disaster official Nguyen Ngoc Giai
said.
No rains were reported in the region Saturday.
"The worst part of the flooding is over," he said. "Our
task now is to provide food and water to more than 100,000
people who are in shortage of food."
Authorities have given local villagers disinfectants to
try to prevent outbreaks of waterbourne disease, Giai said.
PTI
