Hanoi (AsiaNews/Agencies) – The Central Committee of the Vietnam Buddhist Sangha (VBS) and the Vietnamese community in Mozambique have delivered some 20 tonnes of food to the victims of tropical storm Idai, which devastated the African country’s central region in mid-March.
During the handover ceremony (pictured) in Mozambique’s capital Maputo Monday, Superior Monk Thich Dong Hue, member of the Executive Council of the VBS Central Committee and head of the Vietnam Buddhist Association (VBA), expressed hope that local authorities and people will soon overcome the consequences of the storm.
Casimiro Abreu, Acting Director of Mozambique’s National Institute of Natural Disaster Management, praised Vietnamese Buddhists for their solidarity and thanked the government and people of Vietnam for their valuable spiritual and material support.
Movitel, a joint venture between Vietnamese telecommunications group Viettel and Mozambique investment company SPI, recently brought in 50 tonnes of food to Sofala province, the hardest hit by the storm.
The company also dealt with the restoration of the information system and provided relief in many places in the country.
Tropical Storm Idai was the worst natural disaster to hit the region in the past 30 years, killing some 790 people and affecting the lives of nearly three million others.
In Mozambique alone, it left at least 518 people dead, 1,522 injured and 135,000 homeless, destroying 3,318 schools.
Many areas around Beira city and the central region of Mozambique are still facing flooding, power cuts, food and water shortage as well as the risk of disease outbreaks.
Although some 9.500 km separate the two countries, they have close trading relations. Last January, Vietnam's ambassador to Mozambique, Hu Huang, said that the African country received about US$ 600 million from the Vietnamese government in the last ten years, especially in the transport and communications sectors.
In October 2017, the VBS Central Committee held a grand ceremony in Maputo, to raise awareness about the VBA and launch a plan to establish a Vietnamese Buddhist centre in Mozambique, the first of its kind in Africa.
