Tran Ngoc Tang, Chairman of the Vietnam Red Cross Society (VRCS), says the amount has doubled the initial target set by the VRCS and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC).

The VRCS provided the victims of last year’s Ketsana and Mirinae storms with food, drinking water and water filters. After the storms, the VRCS rebuilt the water supply depots, cleaned up the environment and helped the people in the regions to save their livestock.

On June 1, the VRCS received water filters worth US$13,750 from Siemens Vietnam. The solar energy filters will help rural people have clean drinking water even when they are isolated in the natural disaster hit areas. The filters will be installed in Vinh Hien and Vinh Hai communes, Phu Loc district and Phu Da communes, Phu Vang district in the central province of Thua Thien-Hue with technical assistance from the German Red Cross Society.