The team, comprising specialists in water and sanitation, emergency shelter, and disaster risk reduction, will assist the Vietnamese authorities in assessing needs and formulating short- and medium-term responses, SDC said in a press release on September 12.
The SDC is also arranging to send relief supplies, including 300 family tents and two water distribution systems capable of serving 10,000 people. In the immediate term, the SDC is liaising with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to deliver essential goods financed by Switzerland to the affected areas.
The 1 million CHF-assistance is one of the largest contributors to the Disaster Response Emergency Fund of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC-DREF), which has likewise released funds to support relief operations. Vietnam is a priority country for the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO), which is currently exploring the reallocation of some of its activities to address the needs arising from the disaster.
Typhoon Yagi has wreaked havoc in several Southeast Asian countries. Violent winds – followed by torrential rainfall – battered the Philippines, China and then Vietnam, causing widespread destruction. The severe weather inundated many localities of Vietnam and triggered major landslides with mountainous regions being particularly hard-hit. Given the magnitude of the requirements, the Vietnamese authorities issued an appeal for international aid.
The evacuations and other preventive measures implemented by the authorities have helped to minimise the number of victims. Nevertheless, thousands of people required evacuation, and to date, several hundred people are reported dead or missing. Vietnam has not faced a natural catastrophe of this magnitude in over three decades, according to SDC.
