The Vietnamese Embassy in the Philippines is offering relief to Vietnamese expats struggling in the aftermath of the super typhoon that hit the island country last week. Three people are reportedly missing.

When contacted via phone by Tuoi Tre on Thursday afternoon, Vietnamese Ambassador to the Philippines Truong Trieu Duong said, “We have given relief to 36 Vietnamese people in Ormoc City in the central Philippines and are trying to search for people who survived the disaster in Tacbolan.”

Two officials of the Embassy, including the First Secretary and the Cultural Attaché, arrived in Ormoc on November 14 to visit and hand over relief to these Vietnamese, Ambasador Duong said.

The relief includes rice, food, drinking water, medicine, and other essential items.

“The relief can meet the daily needs of these people for five to seven days. Therefore, we will continue to send relief to them during the days to come,” the Ambassador said.

Nguyen Duy Duc, one of the Vietnamese survivors, told Tuoi Tre that many people have tried to live only on coconuts, since food is first provided to women and children.

Also yesterday, Henry Nguyen, a Vietnamese businessman, handed 2 million Philippine peso (US$46,000) to Ambassador Duong as his family’s support to Vietnamese victims of the typhoon.

Three missing

Vietnamese survivors of the disaster on Thursday said that three Vietnamese people remained missing.

“Everybody is hoping for the best, and that they will be found,” they said.

Most of the Vietnamese community in Tacloban kept themselves safe from the harm caused by the typhoon thanks to their inherent carefulness, said Huynh Sang, one of the survivors.

“After being informed of the coming typhoon, we reinforced our houses for safety or moved to safe places,” Sang said.

According to Philippines authorities, the death toll caused by Super Typhoon Haiyan was about 2,300 by Thursday. Meanwhile, the United Nations estimated that the number of deaths was 4,400.