As much as 20,000 tonnes of rice has been proposed to support households in need of food aid and those suffering serious damage caused by natural disasters on the occasion of the upcoming Tet (Lunar New Year) holiday.

Eleven provinces hard hit by last year’s storms made the proposal, including the three central localities of Quang Binh, Nghe An and Quang Tri.

In an effort to meet the request, the Ministry of Labour, War Invalids and Social Affairs is hastening the fulfilment of relevant formalities to submit the appeal to the Government for its early approval.

The ministry directed localities to check the number of beneficiaries of social welfare, including poor households, to ensure a happy Tet for all of them, said deputy head of the ministry’s Social Welfare Department Thai Phuc Thanh.

The provinces were also asked to pay attention to preventing the misappropriation of donations.

According to initial statistics, more than 60,000 tonnes of rice was donated to people in natural disaster-vulnerable areas.-VNA