The Vietnam Red Cross (VRC) on June 20 handed over to the Japanese embassy the last segment of an aid donation worth 161 billion VND (roughly 7.78 million USD) for victims of natural disasters in Japan .

The VRC President Tran Ngoc Tang said the aid, which was raised from March 16 to June 10, had been transferred to Japan in six segments since March, in both cash and kind.

He added that the Red Cross originally intended to launch the fundraiser for just one month up to April 15, collecting over 66 billion VND. However, donors continued to come to its office with offers to aid after the closing date, prompting the organisation to extend the campaign to June 10.

Minister of the Japanese Embassy to Vietnam Koichi Aiboshi expressed thanks for the timely and effective aid by the Vietnamese people, especially shipments of essential goods, to Japanese victims in shelters.

The diplomat said Japan was working to control incidents at the nuclear power plant in Fukushima and doing its best to bring operations back to normal as soon as possible./.