disaster relief
Vietnam: Restoring Hope After Typhoons
CBN.com – VIETNAM –Typhoon Mirinae struck Vietnam's southern central coast with brute force in early November, 2009. It followed on the heels of Typhoon Ketsana, which had devastated the central coastal area only two months earlier. Floods swept away thousands of homes and ruined several thousand acres of farmland, leaving families homeless and without provision to feed themselves or have crops to sell for a livelihood. CBN's Operation Blessing partnered with a local ministry to begin restoring hope by giving them blankets, food and other basic needs items.
Luong Cong Chin and his wife, Dan Thi Sinh, live in a small wooden house among a group of row homes by the river. This older couple shares their home with relatives, a younger couple and a two-year-old boy. As the typhoon neared, Chin's family hung their motorbike from the rafters and put their valuables up as high as possible. The water came quickly, and the family soon realized that they wouldn't even be safe in their rafters. They got into a tube and rafted to a temple on higher ground. They stayed there until the waters went back down.
When they returned to their home, they found that they had lost almost everything: 500 kilos of rice, two pigs, several chickens, shoes, and cookware. During the storm, the bike had broken loose and it was buried in the sand. They dug it out, but it no longer worked. Their furniture was covered in sand, much of it damaged. In fact, the sand was so high that it was almost up to the top of the doorway. The family had to crawl and dig their way into their house.
When we delivered the gifts, Chin and Sinh said that they appreciated everything we had given them very much. They didn't have any blankets or mosquito nets; and many people were sick from the mosquitoes. They told us that they especially appreciated the food, because they had very little food left; and since the rice fields were ruined, they could not get food or earn money from their farm.
It is during such times of devastation that people are desperate for hope and help. What a joy it is to know that God allows CBN to pool resources with another ministry in timely disaster response. He is most honored when ministries work together to address big problems. As CBN's Operation Blessing continues to extend God's hand of provision to disaster relief efforts in Vietnam and the world over, we thank CBN partners for their continued support. With your help, we make an impact for the world in the name of Jesus.
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