A total of 12,312 head of livestock, including 9,356 buffalos and cows, were killed by a severe cold that hit the northern and northern-central regions over the past week.

According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development’s Department for Livestock Production, as of 4 p.m. on January 29, the northern mountainous province of Son La suffered the worst loss with 3,708 livestock killed, followed by Lang Son, Dien Bien, Lao Cai and Hoa Binh provinces.

The department asked localities to carry out measures to respond to the cold and instruct farmers on how to minimise losses.

Snow fell in many areas across the northern mountainous region as the severe cold spell enveloped almost half of the country from January 23.

Snow blanketed Sa Pa in the northern province of Lao Cai on January 24, where temperatures plunged to -5 degrees C on the night of January 23 – the lowest in many years.

Freezing temperatures were also reported in other areas, such as -0.4 degrees C in Tam Dao (Phu Tho province), -0.2 degrees C in Dong Van (Ha Giang province) and -4 degrees C on Mau Son Mountain (Lang Son province).

According to the National Steering Committee on Disaster Prevention and Control, by 7 p.m. on January 28, the freezing weather had spoiled 9,453 hectares of rice, 8,472 hectares of rice seeds and 16,149 hectares of vegetables.

The Viet Nam Bank for Social Policies (VBSP) has announced it will provide loan term extensions for households suffering from the recent cold spell.

The extension of up to three years will be applied to families with damage reported at between 40 and 80 per cent, and up to five years to households with damage reported above 80 per cent.

During the extended terms, these debtors will not be required to pay interest.

The provision of additional loans will also be considered based on local demand.

By Thursday, more than 5,000 people, who have borrowed a total amount of VND127.3 billion (USVND126,711 million) from the VBSP, had taken the brunt of the dreadful weather.

Damage was calculated at 12,300 dead farm animals and about 10,725 hectares of destroyed farming areas.

The Husbandry Department under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has instructed cities and provinces affected by the cold to take all necessary measures to ease the damage caused by the weather to the animal breeding sector.

The municipal and provincial Departments of Agriculture and Rural Development were requested to send working groups to help locals minimise losses.

Agencies should regularly update farmers with weather conditions via mass media, the Husbandry Department said.

It also asked localities to take the initiative in using their own budgets to fight cold spells and overcome any consequences.

Local farmers should be guided to raise their cattle with on-the-spot feed, not let them wander during cold days and decontaminate breeding facilities in order to prevent the outbreak of diseases.

Localities were requested to propose recovery plans and provide farmers with breeding stock and animal feed after the cold spell.

Deputy PM in Sa Pa

Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc on Thursday inspected recovery efforts in Sa Pa district, in the northern mountainous province of Lao Cai following the recent severe cold spell.

Together with Bat Xat, Sa Pa is one of the localities hardest hit by the cold, suffering temperatures as low as -4.2 degrees Celsius – the coldest in the past 60 years.

Snow blanketed 18 communes and townships, disrupting traffic and agro-forestry production.

The cold weather also killed 168 cattle in more than 120 poor and near-poor households and damaged 250ha of vegetables in nearly 950 households, resulting in billions of dong of losses.

Eighty per cent of water pipelines in the locality have been frozen.

The Deputy PM, who is also head of the Steering Committee for the Northwestern Region, took the occasion to call for all possible resources to restore production and help locals stabilise their lives.

The Ministry of Finance was requested to provide funding for recovery efforts while the Health Ministry is to supply medicines to affected families.

He also suggested the Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development and the Bank for Social Policies help with funding for production and farming.

Phuc hoped that local authorities would ensure social welfare services to residents and bring them a warm and happy Lunar New Year festival.

The Viet Nam Red Cross Society, credit organisations and local firms presented gifts worth VND2.9 billion (VND2,912,130,000) to affected families.

Cold hits fish breeders

Over 130 tonnes of fish bred in pond and 60,000 kilogrammes of baby fish in Thai Binh Northern province's Thai Thuy District died from the record chill in the week.

Thai Thuy authorities have issued guidelines to aquiculture breeders to apply urgent measures to protect aquatic life. Dropping water hyacinth over one-third of the water surface to stop winds, and covering the pond surface with canvas or nylon were among the urgent measures suggested during the record chill, which caused vast damage to local farming households.

The dead fish were mainly in Thuy Hai, Thai Thuong, and Thuy Xuan communes.

Initial reports from Thai Thuy District authorities revealed 140ha of fish breeding area suffered damage in the cold spell with temperatures plummeting to under 6o Celsius.

Local shrimp breeders were fortunate to sell out all their produce before the cold spell hit the area, an official from district authorities said.

Fish breeder Nguyen Trung Dac in Tam Dong Village of Thuy Hai Commune said in tears, "My family has 1.5ha of perch breeding area. The 18-month-old fish was ready to be consumed during Tet. On Sunday morning, I saw dead fish scattered on the water surface and on Monday, we were heartbroken after seeing dead fish belly up in the pond."

Before this cold spell, Dac estimated that revenue from his fish pond would be up VND600 to VND700 million (VND591,318,000-31,100).

Thuy Hai Commune's Dai Dong fish breeding co-operative has 60ha of perch and garrupa among a total 100ha of aquaculture area.

A co-operative farmer said bred fish cannot adapt to a sudden drop in the temperature and died en masse.

Many local breeders suffered heavy losses, and some had lost half of their bred fish.

Thuy Xuan Commune has 200 fish breeders in a total area of 49ha. Local authorities estimated that half the breeders suffered losses during the chill with maximum dead fish up to 1.5 tonnes per breeder.

Some breeders tried to sell live small fish but the price was too low, at about VND22,230 per kilogrammes.

BIDV provides financial support for cold-hit localities

The Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam (BIDV) has granted urgent financial support worth 2.6 billion VND (116,948 USD) for localities hardest hit by the recent cold snap, including Cao Bang, Yen Bai, Hoa Binh, Lao Cai, Dien Bien, Son La, Lai Chau and Ha Giang provinces.

Earlier, the bank gave 9,000 Tet gifts to those localities as part of the programme to present 50,000 Tet gifts worth 15 billion VND (674,700 USD) to deprived people nationwide.

The cold spell, which took place accross the northern region of the country from January 22-27, has caused serious damage to both crops and livestock.

According to the National Steering Committee on Disaster Prevention and Control, by 19:00 January 28, the freezing weather had spoiled 9,453 hectares of rice, 8,472 hectares of rice seeds and 16,149 hectares of vegetables. It also killed 9,409 head of cattle and 43,242 heads of poultry.

Local FB users urge help for upland kids to weather freezing cold

Since earlier this week, local Facebook users have shared statuses and images about freezing temperatures in the country’s north and called for generous donors to give warm clothes to kids in the region.

People have kept sharing a link on donation at quytrongheovungcao.vn which has been launched to help disadvantaged kids in mountainous areas. The campaign has received positive feedback from both locals and foreigners living and working in Vietnam, with coats, boots, socks and hats beginning to come in.  Some have even volunteered to help transport donations to needy areas.

Just three days after the launch of the campaign, nearly VND3 billion has been raised from thousands of people to buy jackets and boots for children in mountainous regions.

As one of the people who are in Sapa to donate stuff to ethnic minority people, popular French photographer Rehahn has kept posting images and notes to raise public awareness on the difficult living conditions of local people, especially children.

In a status, he said: “Although many of us are experiencing a snowy winter in our homeland, we are experiencing it with warm coats, boots, socks, hats, interior heat and hot chocolate. But right now, in this moment, there are young children and elderly grandparents of poor ethnic minority villages in the remote mountains of northern Vietnam experiencing sub-freezing conditions (minus 2 Celsius) with no shoes, not even socks.”

According to the photographer who is currently based in the ancient town of Hoi An in the central coast province of Quang Nam, H’mong, Dao and Xa Pho people live in high altitudes in the north, and their homes could hardly retain heat. Fuel is too scarce for the sudden cold, and they are burning plastic and any flammable trash they find on the cooking fire on the floor of their home to keep themselves warm at the cost of inhaling severely toxic fumes, including infants and elderly.

According to the Facebook page of Com Co Thit foundation, the organizer will keep calling for donations for needy people due to the cold.

VNA/VNS/SGT