Recent Projects

Between 2002 and 2005, severe droughts dried out the central highlands regions of Vietnam and its coffee beans, pepper plants and rice paddies. The drought also lowered the supply of drinking and irrigation water as lakes and bodies of water dried up. Binh Thuan and Ninh Thuan provinces on the south central coast of Vietnam faced the most dire conditions.

The Vietnamese goverment said that, because of the drought, more than a million people faced daily water shortages and 500,000 faced hunger. The country suffered economic losses of more than $100 million. Extremely dry conditions are expected to continue in 2006.

Vietnam Relief Effort volunteers traveled to these provinces in 2005 and provided more than a thousand families with rice, noodles, sugar, water, cooking oil and other essentials. As the drought continues, VRE is looking for ways to provide long-term relief to the communities, such as providing job assistance.

Also in November 2005, VRE traveled to Yen Bai province in northern Vietnam to help victims of Typhoon Damrey. The typhoon killed about 60 people but displaced thousands more. VRE provided supplies including rice, sugar, sauces and seasoning to 650 families.

Click here to read the Thanh Nien News Vietnamese newspaper article about these relief efforts.

And VRE has assisted thousands of displaced Vietnamese victims of Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf States. After the hurricanes hit, we purchased cooking fuel, jackets, sweats, socks, gloves and other necessities for Vietnamese communities and distributed them through local charities in Louisiana and Mississippi.