To date, USAID has committed more than $2.3 million in disaster relief funds to address the immediate humanitarian needs of vulnerable communities, including persons with disabilities, affected by the flooding in the central region of Vietnam. This includes directing $234,000 of development funding from USAID’s Raising Voices Creating Opportunities project to assist 2,000 persons with disabilities in the affected areas by providing them with food, kitchen, sanitary items, and over 400 water filtration systems. In addition, vulnerable students, including children with disabilities at six schools will receive replacement seating and school materials. On November 25, USAID/Vietnam Mission Director Ann Marie Yastishock attended a ceremony to present emergency kits to persons with disabilities and their families in Thua Thien-Hue province.  These emergency relief operations were launched in Quang Tri province one week earlier and will be continued in Quang Nam province in the following days. 

So What? Persons with disabilities are often home-bound, have less access to information and cannot take full advantage of preparedness activities and evacuation protocols. It is estimated that provinces impacted by the flooding are home to over 200,000 persons with disabilities, of whom 61,000 persons with disabilities are directly affected by this disaster.