The central province of Thua Thien-Hue has to date distributed 500 billion VND (22 million USD) of compensation money to 18,162 locals who were affected by the Formosa marine environmental incident last April.

According to Vice Chairman of the provincial People’s Committee Nguyen Van Phuong, the total approved compensation for the province is 680.76 billion VND (30 million USD), to be paid to 20,018 people.

At present, the localities are carrying out the third payment batch.

After receiving their compensation, almost all fishermen used the money for right purposes, including upgrading ships or buying new fishing tools.

The mass fish deaths were first reported on April 6, 2016 when a large number of fish washed ashore in Ha Tinh province. The incident also occurred in Quang Binh, Quang Tri and Thua Thien Hue provinces.

About 70 tonnes of dead fish were found in the four provinces and Thua Thien-Hue alone reported 35 tonnes of farm-raised fish had died.

The pollution also affected more than 260,000 people who earn their living from the sea.

In late June 2016, Taiwan-invested Hung Nghiep Formosa Ha Tinh Steel Limited Company admitted responsibility for the environmental incident, which affected the central provinces of Ha Tinh, Quang Binh, Quang Tri and Thua Thien-Hue. It has paid 11.5 trillion VND (500 million USD) in compensation.

VNA