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The Vietnamese Fatherland Front must work hard to meet the goal of building 500,000 houses for those affected by poverty between now and 2010. | The Vietnamese Fatherland Front (VFF) must work hard to meet the goal of building 500,000 houses for those affected by poverty between now and 2010.
Poor homeless people are the hardest hit by the current spiralling inflation, so VFF chapters at all levels should mobilise all resources towards the goal, said Vu Trong Kim, Vice President-cum-Secretary General of the VFF Central Committee while working with the VFF Committee of southern Lam Dong province on September 22.
The VFF Central committee has asked the government to increase housing aid money from 5 million to 7 million VND for each poor household and to instruct the Vietnam Bank for Social Policy to loan each of them an extra 8 million VND to build houses, he said.
Between 2000 and September 2008, Vietnam has constructed more than 750,000 houses for the poor in response to the appeal by the VFF Central Committee.
Over 500 dignitaries and followers of Caodaism nationwide gathered in Ho Chi Minh City on September 22 for a grand celebration of the 84 th founding anniversary of the religion.
Head of the Cau Kho Oratory Nguyen Huu Nhon said that in 2007, 500,000 Caodaism followers of 74 oratories in the city raised more than 147 million VND for charitable activities.
The Cau Kho Oratory’s charity clinic has regularly given medical check-ups and provided medicines for poor people in the city.
Caodaism has more than 2.5 million adherents nationwide and 1,285 societies, churches, oratories, and temples across the country.
Representatives from 15 Asia-Pacific countries are attending a regional seminar and training course in Hanoi on Sept. 22, focusing on post-detoxification care for drug addicts.
The seminar is jointly organised by the National Committee for Drug, AIDS and Prostitution Control and the Colombo Plan Drug Advisory Programme (CPDAP).
According to the organising committee, the seminar and training course aims to help the Vietnamese learn from the experiences of other regional countries in implementing aftercare for treated drug addicts, in order to raise the efficiency and effectiveness of such work in Vietnam.
Foreign experts will also be reporting on new aftercare methods, the impact of drug abuse on drug addicts’ families and the community, detoxification activities and care for treated drug addicts at home.
During the seminar, which lasts until Sept. 25, participants will conduct a field tour of the Ba Vi Detoxification Centre in Hanoi.
Sweden has approved a humanitarian assistance worth 2.4 million SEK (roughly 358,000 USD) to support the project “Relief and Rehabilitation Support in Phu Tho Province, Vietnam”.
Through Plan International Vietnam, the assistance will help the urgent needs of approximately 12,000 people - victims of the floods and landslides caused by storm Kammuri, which hit northern Vietnam in early August, said a press release issued by the Swedish Embassy on September 22.
The project, carried out from August 1, 2008 to September 30, 2009, will address the immediate nutritional needs of the vulnerable groups, including children under five, and minimise disruption of the education of primary and pre-primary school children affected by the floods.
It will also among other things rehabilitate and rebuild structures damaged by the storm in order to contribute to the protection of the health status of people at risk from contaminated drinking water supplies and ensure access to primary health care.
Short term livelihood opportunities through cash for work for the poorest households will also be provided, the press release said.
A serious fire in Hanoi early Saturday morning destroyed a 6,000 sq.m building owned by the Vietnam Manufacturing and Export Processing Co (VMEP), a Ha Dong City-based company specialising in the production of SYM brand motorbikes.
The blaze, which took hours to get under control, destroyed hundreds of Attila scooters, an estimated loss of tens of billions of dong, according to figures from the municipal fire prevention and fighting police.
The municipal police are still searching for the cause of the fire.
(Source: VNA) | 
