At the requiem (Photo: VNA)Hai Phong (VNA) – A requiem was held in the northern port city of Hai Phong on July 30 to commemorate those who died of Agent Orange/dioxin sprayed by US troops during the war in Vietnam.
The event was jointly held by the Executive Board of the Vietnam Buddhist Sangha (VBS)’s Hai Phong chapter and the municipal Association for Victims of AO/Dioxin Victims to mark 55 years of AO/dioxin catastrophe in Vietnam (August 10, 1961).
Buddhist monks, nuns and followers offered incense and prayed for the deceased.
Most Venerable Thich Quang Tung, Vice President of the VBS Executive Council and Head of the Executive Board of the Vietnam Buddhist Sangha (VBS)’s Hai Phong chapter, said the requiem is to promote peace, equality, and altruism.
Chairman of the municipal Association for Victims of AO/dioxin Victims Nguyen Huu Y described the chemical war of the US army in Vietnam as the biggest of its kind in the world that caused the most destructive disaster in the human history.
Nearly 4.8 million Vietnamese people were exposed to the toxic chemicals and over three million people and their descendants suffer from health problems as a consequence of the exposure until today.
Hai Phong is home to more than 17,000 AO/dioxin victims, over 7,000 of them are receiving State allowance.-VNA
