Humanitarian Aid

The European Commission (EC) is one of the largest donors of humanitarian aid worldwide. Since 1994 the EC has allocated over €27 million in assistance to Vietnam’s most vulnerable people through its humanitarian aid department, ECHO. The majority of funding has been provided to victims of typhoons and floods and for disaster preparedness projects.

Due to its geographical location, Vietnam is one of the most disaster-prone regions in the world. Vietnamese people are familiar with natural disasters and have developed a great capacity to respond to frequent flash floods, floods, typhoons, and landslides. Given the government and people’s capacity, the need for international humanitarian aid has decreased in the last ten years. Where local resources are overwhelmed and the need arises, however, ECHO steps in together with non-governmental organisations, the Red Cross Movement and the United Nations, to provide assistance to people affected by natural disasters, in close cooperation with the government.

  • The map of on-going ECHO/DIPECHO interventions indicates the location of current projects across Vietnam.
  • The list of 2009 ECHO/DIPECHO projects gives the precise names of and funding allocated to projects in Vietnam. 

In response to Typhoon Ketsana, the European Commission is providing some €5 million in assistance to Vietnam with an additional €1 million from EU member states for humanitarian aid operations. At least 280,000 homes have been destroyed or damaged, both in coastal areas and inland. Vulnerable households were particularly badly affected.

Tropical storm Kammuri, which hit Vietnam in August 2008, affected 93,430 people and devastated the northern provinces of Lao Cai, Yen Bai and Phu Tho. The EC responded to this disaster swiftly with emergency funding of €1 million to ensure the provision of life saving support and early recovery assistance to over 90,000 people, with the help of the French Red Cross, Save the Children UK and Oxfam UK. Emergency relief funding of €1 million went towards food aid and agricultural recovery in the form of rice distribution, seeds for planting and harvesting, along with funding for the distribution of basic household necessities, especially mosquito nets, blankets and water containers. ECHO funding will also provide educational and recreational materials for school children to help them return to their everyday lives.

DIPECHO

In addition to disaster response, the European Commission also provides funding for disaster preparedness measures through the DIPECHO (“Disaster Preparedness – ECHO”) programme. DIPECHO is the main component of ECHO's contribution to global Disaster Risk Reduction. The EC has funded disaster preparedness projects for a total of €9.5 million in Vietnam since 1998. These projects focus on reducing the impact of typhoons, floods, flash floods and landslides for populations most at risk, such as those living in coastal areas, and more recently also those in mountainous, remote places. Partners have concentrated on training local authorities and improving preparedness capacities of local relief organisations or groups such as the Vietnamese Red Cross and local communities, in particular involving children. The European Commission’s commitment of €10 million for the period mid 2008 to 2010 to fund pilot projects under its DIPECHO programme in South East Asia includes nearly €2.5 million for the most vulnerable provinces affected by natural disasters in Vietnam.

Useful links

For any other questions, please contact the ECHO East and Southeast Asia regional support office in Thailand at echo-bangkok@ec.europa.eu or by phone at +66-22551035.

Mathias Eick,

Evangelos Petratos,