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Survivors of super-typhoon in central Vietnam pick up pieces ten years on

Survivors of super-typhoon in central Vietnam pick up pieces ten years on

Wednesday, June 22, 2016, 16:30 GMT+7

In central Vietnam, survivors and deceased victims’ families of Typhoon Chanchu – a powerful tropical storm which ravaged parts of South Asia in 2006 and claimed more than 100 lives – have risen from the ashes of its devastating force 10 years ago.

Binh Minh Commune in Thang Binh District, Quang Nam Province, lost 87 of its fishermen to Typhoon Chanchu, which battered the East Vietnam Sea on May 13, 2006.

The storm killed more than 100 people and left many missing, when it ripped through the Philippines and parts of China and Japan.

Nguyen Thanh Lam, 52, recalled in tears the day he received the news of the deaths of his two sons, Nguyen Thanh Tam, 22, and Nguyen Thanh Su, 17.

He grieved so deeply for his two boys that he has since gone completely blind in his left eye.

“People thought I would commit suicide then. Without everyone’s help, I would have actually died,” Lam recalled.

The weather-beaten man has quit fishing altogether since his sons’ deaths and now scavenges for shellfish to make a scant living while caring for his sickly wife.

Residents across the commune have held more than 80 death anniversary rituals within a four-day period every year since the disaster at sea.

Le Van Kim, 57, shivers every time the storm is mentioned.

He and 33 other crew members struggled desperately to survive the storm and scoop water out of their sinking boat.

It was a pure miracle that they all returned home in one piece.

Truong Thi Huong was pregnant with their fifth child when she learned that her husband, Nguyen Van Chin, had been killed during the typhoon.

She has since done all kinds of menial work to provide for her four young children and baby.

Her two eldest daughters are now high-performing students at local universities.

Huong received VND150 million (US$6,646) in aid from the local government and philanthropists, which helped her pay off debts and start anew.

More tragically, Le Thi Thanh Sa, a young girl whose father never returned from the sea during the typhoon, also lost her mother, who succumbed to the overwhelming grief a few days later.

Many readers of Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper rushed to the assistance of the orphans following articles describing their plight.

Ten years later, Le Thanh Nhan, 23, Sa’s younger brother, has returned from Ho Chi Minh City to work on the APU International School campus in Da Nang City, which neighbors Quang Nam Province.

Nhan recalled that sometime after their parents’ deaths, they were taken to Ho Chi Minh City for accommodation and education by Tran Nguyen Thy Binh, chair of APU International School and the American University of Vietnam.

The young man shared their deep gratitude to Binh, who they consider their second mother.

Sa is now blissfully married and has settled in her hometown, while her two younger sisters are also studying at Binh’s American University of Vietnam.

Over the past 10 years, Tuoi Tre’s signature “Tiep suc den truong” (Giving Strength to Students) scholarship program has helped send dozens of youths in Binh Minh Commune to university every year.

The commune has witnessed considerable changes in recent years, evident in the neat concrete roads, which have replaced dusty paths and sturdy, storm-proof houses.

According to Truong Cong Bay, deputy chair of the Binh Minh People’s Committee, the local administration has organized 12 captain and chief mechanic training classes for 380 local fishermen, and provided vocational consultancy for more than 640 youths over the past decade.

Eight hundred militiamen and fishermen also joined classes meant to enhance their readiness to safeguard the country’s sovereignty over seas and islands.

The commune currently boasts a fleet of over 150 deep-sea fishing boats with more than 1,000 crew members, a sharp rise from the modest fleet of four to five boats in 2006.

“Our suffering will not deter us from a bright future ahead. We need to be stronger and build more modern boats so that sea fishing tragedies like Chanchu will become a thing of the past,” Bay stressed.

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