They also destroyed nearly 350,000ha of rice and subsidiary crops and 68,000ha of aquaculture, killed more than 1 million cattle and poultry and swept away nearly 5,000 houses, causing total losses of nearly VND12,000 billion.
The office says natural disasters in 2008 were much more serious than in previous years, badly affecting production and people’s lives. In addition, a sharp increase in the price of goods and services along with cattle and poultry epidemics also seriously affected people’s lives, especially those in the low-income bracket. More than 957,000 households suffered from food shortages, up 32.3 percent compared to 2007’s figure. The shortage of food mainly occurred in the northern mountainous and midland provinces, and north-central, central coastal and highland regions.
To ensure social security, the State allocated VND42.3 trillion to increase salaries and allowance for pensioners and people who made contributions to the revolution, as well as supporting natural disaster victims, exempting fees and offering preferential credit policies to ethnic minority people and disadvantaged students.