The Vietnam War Veterans’ Association (VWVA) Central Committee on October 7 called on its staff to donate at least one working-day’s salary to help victims of tropical storm Wutip.

Addressing the launching ceremony, Vice President of the VWVA Central Committee Phuc Khac Dang said Wutip, the 10th to hit Vietnam so far this year, has caused great losses in both human lives and property in the central region.

He said the storm has left tens of people dead and injured hundreds of others while destroying thousands of houses and tens of thousands of hectares of rice and other crops.

According to the VWVA, six members of the association’s Quang Binh chapter were killed, 21 others injured and 90 percent of its staff had their house torn apart during the tropical storm.

War veterans’ businesses in Quang Binh suffered huge losses, especially rubber plantations which have been seriously damaged after the storm swept through, the association said.

The same day, Nguyen Thi Hong Thu, Vice President of the Vietnam General Federation of Labour, led a delegation to visited Wutip victims in Quang Tri province.

The delegation handed over a total of 300 million VND to local victims.

Earlier, the Quang Tri provincial Federation of Labour and the Lao Dong (Labour) newspaper presented 50 million VND to 20 households in Vinh Linh district to help them repair their homes.

Quang Tri province was hard hit by the storm with losses totaling more than 2 trillion VND.

The storm killed one person and injured 37 others in the central province. It also destroyed 8,000 hectares of rubber trees and 5,000 hectares of crops while blowing off roofs of 11,000 houses and casuing 17 others to collaspe.

Also on October 7, the northern mountainous province of Tuyen Quang launched a similar ceremony, during which over 260 million VND were mobilised in support for Wutip victims.

Apart from 500 million VND from its budget, the Vietnam Fatherland Front’s Quang Nam chapter has also collected nearly 2.4 billion VND to help the victims.

MobiFone company reported that it had raised one billion VND to assist Wutip victims.

On the day, the Vietnam Union of Friendship Organisations met with officials from international organisations, development and cooperation agencies and donors to brief on the losses Wutip cost the central region.

It also called on foreign non-governmental organisations and international development and cooperation agencies to come up with aid relief for the storm-hit people.-VNA