A number of young people living in Ho Chi Minh City found the plight of down-and-outs who were probably starving after a storm so moving that they took it upon themselves to give the destitute food and drinks at night.

Typhoon Usagi, which on Sunday and Monday dumped a record rainfall in the southern metropolis in years, turned multiple streets into rivers and sent residents scrambling to their cozy homes.

But homeless people, who are a common sight along city roads at night, stayed on the sidewalks, shaking in loneliness with cold and hunger.

They appeared in the thought of many young urbanites.

Huynh Quang Huy, a senior at the Ho Chi Minh City University of Fine Arts, was doing his graduation thesis in his room when rainwater splattered on him through a window.

“Even in the room I was still affected by the storm. I wondered what might be happening to the people out there,” Huy told Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper.

Having stepped out of the accommodation, he found a wet homeless man eating rice porridge with shivering hands in front of a closed shop.

“I felt really embarrassed at his situation. I bought something for him but the street was very empty at the time,” he said.

Huy managed to purchase a banh bao (a steamed pork bun with hard-boiled quail eggs), which the man ate quickly while saying thanks.

A man eats banh bao along a street in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Photo: Huynh Quang Huy

He went around but failed to find more down-and-outs. He then went back to the man but he was no longer there.

Huy posted photos of the man, which have gone viral on Facebook over the past few days and were seen by Ngoc Mai, a 23-year-old office worker in Ho Chi Minh City.

Mai did something more practical than just clicking the like and share buttons.

The photos motivated her to float her plan of helping the homeless on social media.

One hour later instant noodles, sausage, milk, banh mi, drinking water bottles and raincoats were delivered to her accommodation.

Mai and her friends put their items, worth around VND5 million (US$215), into 80 bags to be given to derelicts on the streets.

Young people prepare gifts for the homeless in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Photo: Tuoi Tre

Young people fold clothes as gifts for the homeless in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Photo: Tuoi Tre

Young people prepare gifts for the homeless in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Photo: Tuoi Tre

One of the participants was a college student who rode a motorbike from the city’s neighbor Dong Nai Province in order to join hands with Mai.

“Photos of the homeless shivering on a cold night on the streets deeply touched me,” said another participant, Minh Trang.

Mai and her friends rode in groups along many streets and stopped when they caught sight of down-and-outs on Monday.

A homeless woman who had lived in the metropolis for years could not fight back tears while receiving her new jacket.

A man gives a jacket to a homeless woman in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Photo: Tuoi Tre

A woman gives a gift to a homeless man in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Photo: Tuoi Tre

A man embraces a homeless woman in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Photo: Tuoi Tre

A woman hands presents to street people in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Photo: Tuoi Tre

A man gives a gift to a homeless woman in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Photo: Tuoi Tre

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