The capital city of Hanoi on October 7 launched a month for the poor and storm victims.
The annual programme, coorganised by the Hanoi Fatherland Front and the Hanoi Radio Television, forms part of the city’s efforts to reduce poverty while promoting the spirit of mutual help.
According to Dao Van Binh, Chairman of the Hanoi Fatherland Front, the city strives to cut the rate of poor households from 1.5 to 1.8 percent annually and bring the percentage of those to below 2 percent by 2015.
Over the past 13 years, the capital city has helped build and repair more than 30,000 houses. In 2012 alone, the “For the poor” fund collected nearly 40 billion VND.
However, more efforts are needed as Hanoi still has over 59.300 poor households and more than 42.000 families living near the poverty line, making up 3.6 percent and 2.5 percent of its population, Binh stressed.
On this occasion, some 80 billion VND (3.76 million USD) were collected in support of the poor and storm victims.
Earlier, on October 2, the capital city donated 7 billion VND to victims of natural disasters in other provinces.
Vietnam had over 2.1 million poor households and over 1.4 million families living near the poverty line in 2012, accounting for 9.64 percent and 6.57 percent of the population, respectively.
The national poverty rate last year was reduced by 2.12 percent, exceeding the target of 2 percent set by the National Assembly. In particular, the rate sharply fell in poor districts by 7.02 percent while the NA target was just 4 percent.-VNA
