Typhoon durian (storm no 9) struck Ben Tre

• Deputy Prime Minister Truong Vinh Trong ordered: "Quickly overcome the damages, do not let the victims in helpless state."
• Right after the storm swept through the area, Mr Truong Thanh Phong, CEO of the Southern Rice and Foodstuff Corporation, led his company as the first organization to give VND 150 million of relief aid to Ben Tre.

As typhoon Durian (Storm No 9) started its furious ravage in Ben Tre at 7 am on December 5, its eye was right offshore to the East of the province. Its wind force near the eye was rated between 89 kmph and 117 kmph, gust wind at more than 120 kmph.

At 7:45 am December 5, the storm started to strike in Ba Tri District, one of Ben Tre's three seafront districts with wind at Level 8, and gust at Level 11. By 9:30 am, that is when the storm had just swirled away, about 1.160 fishing boats were safely anchored in harbours along the coastline. 3 small boats were said to be sunk. By 7:00 pm the same day, it was known that 3,377 houses collapsed, while 15,200 others were unroofed and badly damaged. 26 classrooms were totally destroyed and 113 other unroofed. There were one death and 58 wounded.

By 10:00 am, the storm swept through Cho Lach District, Ben Tre's biggest stock of seedling and fruit gardens. In Cho Lach, 3,382 houses were unroofed, 307 houses were totally dismantled, two boats were sunk on the river, axnd 6 electrical posts were cracked down. In addition, 35 classrooms and 6 governmental offices were also partly damaged. There was no death but there were 6 wounded in Cho Lach District.

In Mo Cay District, the havoc caused by the storm was not less devastating. 2,678 houses were smashed, 13,116 houses were unroofed, 22 classrooms were totally destroyed and 96 classrooms unroofed. There were one death and one child missing.

In Chau Thanh District, 1,792 houses were unroofed, 261 houses collapsed, 31 classrooms were unroofed, and 17 river boats were sunk, according to reports by the end of December 5.

In Thanh Phu District, electrical system was totally broke down since 7:45 am. Here, 1,096 houses were unroofed, 285 houses were flattened.

Giong Trom District was one of the three worst hit districts by typhoon Durian, with 24,717 houses unroofed, 9,150 houses totally flattened, 55 classrooms unroofed, and 14 classrooms totally damaged. There were 6 deaths and 77 wounded in this district.

Though the least hit by tyhpoon Durian, Ben Tre Township also had 2,971 unroofed and 86 totally-flattened houses. 14 people here had to be rushed to hospital for injuries caused by flying tole sheets and uprooted trees.

It was Binh Dai district that was the worst wretched by the storm. Here, 24,324 houses were unroofed, 2,963 houses were totally destroyed, 240 classrooms were unroofed, 42 offices were partly damaged, 250 people were wounded and 6 dead.

Unfinished statistics by 7:00 pm December 5, the storm caused 16 deaths, 470 wounded. 86,598 houses were unroofed, 19,307 houses were totally destroyed, 29 boats were sunk, 535 classrooms were unroofed, 109 classrooms were destroyed, and 99 offices were partly damaged. 165 electrical posts were tumbling, 45 of which were cracked down. There were 400 points of electrical disconnections. 8,350 telephones were broke down.

In Ben Tre Township, many old trees were uprooted. Even the province's broadcasting tower was damaged and the housing of the radio broadcasting was unroofed, but fortunately it was able to continue to work without any interruption.

Altogether, 5,000 ha of fruit trees and 3,000 ha of rice fields, vegetables, and aquacultural ponds were damaged, with amount value of up to VND 100 billion. Totally, the amount value of damages caused by typhoon Durian in Ben Tre May stand at VND 300 billion, as of December 5.

As soon as December 5, the province's People's Committee decided to spend VND 4.5 billion as relief aid to the typhoon victims, and a day later, under an order by the People's Committee Chairman, another sum of VND 10 billion was also dispersed to hard hit districts for initial recovering efforts. A proposal was also submitted to the Central Government to subsidize Ben Tre with VND 170 billion, includicng VND 50 billion in urgent aid, in its efforts to overcome damages caused by the storm. For the time being, the Central Government agreed to support VND 5 million each for totally destroyed houses and VND 2 million each for unroofed ones.

Among the 3,558 displaced residents from islands and typhoon-eye areas, many of them still have not yet decided to return to their home for fear of aftermath uncertainties. The province decided to spend VND 50 million to cater for their meals as a method of relief aid.

In his work with Ben Tre's leadership at the end of December 5, Deputy Prime Minister Truong Vinh Trong the storm wousld absolutely left Ben Tre, a poor province in the Mekong Delta, with heavy havoc. He ordered the province to do good rescue work, to bring equality to the victims, so that they all at least had a house to live in, and especially no one wosuld be left without anything to eat. The Deputy Prime Minister said, the Central Government was willing to help Ben Tre with rice and foodstuff. "We also had to fight the bad habit of high-price selling after the disaster," he said. First of all, classrooms had to be rebuilt first so that our children were able to go to school as soon as possible.

Right after the storm swept through the area, Mr Truong Thanh Phong, CEO of the Southern Rice and Foodstuff Corporation, announced that his company decided to give Ben Tre an amount of VND 150 million as relief aid. This was the first and earliest organization to deliver relief aid to Ben Tre.