UNICEF Focuses Emergency Response to Viet Nam’s Floods on Child Drowning and Disease PreventionBy Tran Phuong Anh An Giang, Viet Nam, 26 October 2011 – Over the past few weeks, the Mekong River in Viet Nam has risen to record levels, destroying thousands of homes and disrupting lives, particularly children’s. As in neighbouring Cambodia and Thailand, large swathes of land in the South and Centre of Viet Nam have been hit by massive floods as a result of a sequence of tropical storms and typhoons. So far, the floods have resulted in the deaths of 49 people, of which 43 are children. Approximately 700,000 people have been affected in both central Viet Nam and the Mekong Delta. About 163,800 houses have been affected and around 25,000 hectares of rice fields are flooded, with water receding very slowly. More flooding is forecast in the Delta by the end of October, which may raise the water level of all rivers again. “Floods this year have reached the record level of the historical year 2000,” says Mr. Ho Viet Hiep, Vice Chairman of An Giang’s Provincial People’s Committee – An Giang is one of Viet Nam’s southern provinces that have been hardest-hit by the floods. “Although local people are used to seasonal floods and disaster preparedness is part of their daily life, the weather has become more and more unpredictable and we’ve seen an increased number of cyclones.” About 19,000 houses have been flooded in the province and over a thousand homes were evacuated. Landslides occurred, ripping off huge areas. Over 6,700 school children are affected, as 60 schools were submerged by the waters and more than 1,300 students have been out of school for over a month already.
A father and two sons look at the remains of their house in An Giang province. Drowning has been the leading cause of child deaths in the floods emergency. – UNICEF/Viet Nam/2011/Ly Phat Viet Linh Alarming number of child fatalities “In emergency situations children, particularly young children, are the most vulnerable,” says Mr. Nguyen Van Nghia, a child protection expert from Viet Nam’s provincial Department of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs. “They live in houses surrounded by water and if their parents fail to keep an eye on them for just a second, they might just quickly fall into the water. The flow is currently so strong that it takes a few minutes to sweep the child away as far as a kilometer.”With an alarming number of child fatalities in the Mekong floods, mostly due to drowning, UNICEF calls for action on child safety.
The most urgent needs for children are clean water and hygiene supplies to prevent the spread of diseases. – UNICEF/Viet Nam/2011/Ly Phat Viet Linh “It is very important to communicate on child drowning so parents are aware of the risks their children face every day,” says Jean Dupraz, UNICEF Viet Nam Deputy Representative. UNICEF responded promptly to the emergency in the South and Centre of the country, providing education and drowning prevention items including 2,000 floating bags; 1,200 life vests; 8 boats and 500 life buoys for school children as well as various learning materials such as school books and note books to affected provinces. “While disruption of education for children must be kept to a minimum, children must also remain healthy during and after the floods, paying particular attention to water-borne diseases and poor sanitation conditions”, Jean Dupraz adds. Prevent the spread of diseases 
Mother Nhan and siblings Khang and Khai are on a wooden boat rowing to their flooded house. – UNICEF/Viet Nam/2011/Tran Phuong Anh While many families are now hosted in evacuation centers to escape the rising waters, some chose to stay behind, living in the upper floors of their homes or on any available dry area nearby. Two siblings, Hoang Vy Khai and Hoang Vy Khang, aged 11 and 13 are squatting on the side of a muddy commune road. “This is our house,” their mother points at a half-submerged floating palm-roofed house. “Our home has been flooded for the past three weeks and we don’t expect the waters to recede before another couple of weeks. Not much of our belongings were saved. We now rely a lot on the help we receive from the Government and other organisations.” Both Khang and Khai are currently out of school as their parents can’t afford their schooling. Whilst the mother stays home as she is not fit for work, their father makes ends meet by netting small fish along the river side. During the floods and as the waters recede, the most urgent needs for children are clean water and hygiene supplies to prevent the spread of diseases such as diarrhea and dengue fever. In the Mekong Delta, UNICEF Viet Nam has, to date, distributed approximately 800,000 water purification tablets; 900 kg of Chloramin B; 14,000 bars of soap; 2,000 jerry cans for water collection; and 2,000 water filters, to cover the needs of approximately 72,000 people for 15 days.
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