No funds to evacuate landslide areas

The dearth of huge sums of money to move residents out of landslide – and natural disaster-prone areas makes it difficult for local authorities to meet the Government's target.

Families living in hundreds of landslide-prone areas and 60 river valleys threatened by floods were set to be moved to safe areas and helped with relocating, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

Pham Khanh Ly, deputy director of the ministry's Department of Cooperatives and Rural Development, said it was impossible to resettle 600,000 households with 3.05 million people during these difficult economic times.

The ministry would spend VND15 trillion (US$721 million) to move only 125,000 families living in areas facing very high risks of floods and landslides by 2015, with 40 per cent of that money coming from local budgets, he said.

Each family living in deltas would get VND28 million ($1,300) to resettle, and those in mountainous areas, VND32 million, he said.

But many localities have said that their limited resources cannot cover the 40 per cent contribution they have to make, not to mention a shortage of land for moving households.

Au Dinh Chien, deputy director of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of northern mountain Ha Giang Province , said relocated families would simply return to their old places if they were unable to cultivate on the land provided to them.

The amount offered by the ministry to help them move to new places was not enough for them to build new houses and begin a new life, he warned.

District top official has luxurious cars seized

Cao Van The, the party committee secretary of Cho Gao District in the southern province of Tien Giang, has his two luxurious cars, which are suspected of being illegally smuggled into Vietnam, seized by local police pending an investigation.

Van Ba Mai, the district’s police chief, confirmed the seizure of the Cambodian-registered Toyota RAV4 and Lexus cars with Tuoi Tre on Tuesday.

Initially, The told police that two local residents gave the cars to him as partial payment of a VND1.6 billion (US$77,000) debt that they have owed him since 2009.

The told Tuoi Tre he uses the cars as a mean of transportation to go to his office and to some hospitals in Ho Chi Minh City for treatment. However, to many people’s surprise, his driver is Nguyen Tan Thach, a police chief of another district in the province.
More diagnosed with mystery skin disease

Three more people in central Quang Ngai Province were diagnosed with the mysterious skin disease on Monday, increasing the number of infected patients to nearly 240, 21 of whom are already dead.

At the moment, 55 patients are being treated in provincial and central hospitals. Four of them are in critical condition.

The Ministry of Health issued 30,000 vitamin pills and gave health and dietary advice to help local people avoid contracting the disease.

Hundreds besiege Hitler the robber in VN mountain

Police in the central province of Quang Ngai have arrested notorious robber Bui Van Thao a.k.a “Thao Hitler” after a long chase in Thien But mountain that lasted from Monday night till Tuesday afternoon.

Investigators said Thao escaped from Kim Son Prison in Hoai An district in the central province of Binh Dinh three months ago.

On May 21 night, Thao and his henchmen tied Pham Tan Sinh and robbed him VND3 million ($150) and a cell phone. They later moved Sinh to Thien But mountain to demand money from his family.

After receiving the ransom, the gang set Sinh free but by then, hundreds of police officers had been deployed around the mountain. By 11am, Thao Hitler was arrested.

According to local police, Thao was born into a rich family in Chanh Lo ward in Quang Ngai province but he preferred a wandering lifestyle, earning living by stealing motorbikes and scooters. He led a gang to snatch bags, gold necklaces and money from bystanders.

In 2005, Thao was sentenced to six years in prison over charges of theft.

After being released in early 2011, Thao continued to commit robbery and was jailed again on the same charge.
Red Cross sets up new fundraising drive

The Viet Nam Red Cross on Tuesday launched a fundraising programme to connect benefactors with disadvantaged people and charitable organisations.

Donors can purchase a Loving Card (The Tinh Thuong) and text the card's pin number to 8099, the programme's operator, to donate money.

The cards are available for VND50,000, VND100,000 and VND200,000 at shops nationwide and at www.mobivi.vn/topup.

During its six-month pilot phase, the programme raised VND120 million (US$5,800) to fund surgeries for six children with heart diseases.

More than 10 charity organisations, including the HCM City Red Cross Society, Heartbeat Vietnam, Operation Smile, and Disability Research and Capacity Development Centre, are beneficiaries of the programme.

Beer spilt on National Road 1A as trucks collide

Two truck collided causing tens of beer cases falling onto the street at Le Thi Rieng- National Road 1A in Thoi An ward, Ho Chi Minh City’s District 12 crossroad at 12pm on Tuesday.

According to initial information, a truck was running on National Road 1A, the direction from Tan Chanh Hiep Bridge to Ga crossroads when it crossed the red light on high speed and hit into a side of another truck carrying beer cases.

Tens of beer cases fell in the street and spilt on National Road 1A .

The two trucks blocked the crossroads and caused traffic congestion in National Road 1A. Vehicles queued up a long line from Quang Trung overpass to the site of accident.

The police in District 12 later arrived to solve the problems and regulate traffic.

Cam Mountain road to re-open after accident

The road leading to the top of the Cam Mountain, a tourist attraction in the Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta province of An Giang, reopened to traffic on Monday, two weeks after it had been blocked because of fatal accident that killed six passengers on a bus.

Ngo Hong Yen, chairman of the Tinh Bien District People's Committee, said the road would open for temporary operations between 6.30 to 15.30 every day for transporting food and consumer goods to residents on the mountain.

Yen said it would take another week to complete clearance of rocks that could cause accidents in the area. District authorities will carry out checks to ensure absolute safety before asking provincial authroities to resume normal operations on the road again, he added.

Korean firm pays $48,000 to treat injured worker

Binh Duong Province-based Kumho Tires (Vietnam) Co Ltd has sent its Vietnamese worker Truong Vinh Thuan, 28, to South Korea for treatment of multi-injuries he sustained in an industrial accident.

Hwan Suk Youn, deputy general director of the Korean company situated in the My Phuoc 3 Industrial Park, Ben Cat District, said Kumho will pay all the expenses related to Thuan’s treatment trip.

The total cost is estimated to be VND1 billion, or US$48,000, Hwan said.

Due to Thuan’s carelessness in operating a winding machine, he had his shoulder blade fractured, three hipbones broken, and suffered a spinal injury that led to paralysis of his two legs.

After the accident, Thuan was treated at Cho Ray Hospital in Ho Chi Minh City, but the company later decided to send him to Yonsei International Hospital in Seoul for further treatment, Hwan said.

Thuan, a native of An Giang Province, was accompanied by his father and a Vietnamese doctor.

Kumho Tires (Vietnam) Co Ltd, which is 100% owned by Kumho Tires Co., Ltd. (Korea), manufactures a full range of tires under the Kumho and Marshal brands in Vietnam.

Illegal gas extraction causes seventh death

A seventh fatality was confirmed on Monday in HCM City's Cho Ray Hospital after a blaze caused by illegal gas extraction that occured in early April in the southern province of Binh Duong.

The female victim together with her husband had been illegally extracting gas from two 12-kg cylinders to use in smaller cannisters.

Three others are in stable condition, while another has been discharged from hospital.

Lieutenant-colonel Vo Van Hong, deputy head of Thuan An Township's Police Department, said that the police were considering closing the case because the two culprits had died.

Workers killed by sudden landslide

Three more workers were killed on Monday because of sudden landslide in a quarry at Lai Xuan Commune, Thuy Nguyen District in northern Hai Phong City, only six hours after an earlier explosion killed six people in the same area.

The mine is owned by local Tan Hoang An Commercial Jointstock Company.

Nguyen Xuan Thuong, chairman of the Lai Xuan Commune People's Committee cited heavy rains as a reason for the landslide.
Eisenhower fund invites Vietnamese candidates

The President of the US educational fund ‘Eisenhower Fellowships’, John Wolf, has invited all eligible Vietnamese candidates to apply to the Eisenhower Fellowships programme for Southeast Asia.

At a reception given for Wolf in Hanoi on May 21, Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai, praised the expansion of the Eisenhower Fellowships programme in Vietnam, which, he said, will be a boost to the country’s human resources.

Hai added that the Vietnamese Government will do everything it can to facilitate the programme in the future.

Founded in 1953, “Eisenhower Fellowships” is a non-governmental and non profit organisation with its funding mainly coming from public donations as well as organisations and the business community in the US. It has sponsored more than 2,000 people from 100 countries around the world, with almost 200 from Southeast Asia.

Needy people get free facial, eye surgery

Forty-two children with harelips and cleft palates in the two Central Highland provinces of Dak Nong and Dak Lak have received free check-ups and operations.

A programme for poor children in remote and ethnic minority areas, worth about VND500 million, was carried out and supported by the Centre for Research and Aid for Operation Smile (OSCA) at Dak Nong province’s general hospital from May 19-21.

OSCA Director Bui Tu Anh said that this is the first time the centre has provided free check-ups and surgeries for poor children with facial deformities in Dak Nong province. It will continue to work with other relevant agencies in the future to perform operations to minimise the effects of facial deformities on children.

Also over four days from May 19-22, the Red Cross in the central province of Nghe An, in conjunction with the Sponsors Association for Poor Patients, Dam Hoa Pagoda and Nguyen Trai Hospital in Ho Chi Minh City provided free eye tests and operations for 1,000 poor patients in eight districts.

At present, Nghe An has almost 200,000 disabled people, who are mostly poor and cannot afford medical treatment. The provincial Red Cross has also called for more support from sponsors and aid agencies nationwide.

Youth to launch Summer Volunteer Campaign

A ceremony to launch the Summer Youth Volunteer campaign themed “Youth Joining Hands to Build New Rural Areas” will take place in Ha Tinh province on May 27.

At a press briefing in Hanoi on May 22, the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union Central Committee said there will be an exchange between young people from Vietnam and Laos at the ceremony, as well as a special art performance to mark Vietnam-Laos Friendship Year in 2012.

A photography contest on the youth joining hands to protect the environment will also be launched.

The targets of the campaign are to have the young people in each province or city build at least 10 rural cultural houses; each district will build at least 1km of rural roads and every village will keep their roads clean and beautiful.

The youth will also take part in activities to ensure traffic safety, promote environmental protection, prevent natural disasters and epidemics, and support communal health care and blood donation campaigns, along with other international volunteer activities.

VNN/VOV/VNS/Tuoi Tre