UN donates victims of typhoon

UN donates victims of typhoon

HANOI (AFP): The United Nations announced yesterday US$225,000 in aid to help the victims of Typhoon Linda, which ravaged part of Vietnam's Mekong Delta and killed hundreds of people.

The UN Development Program (UNDP) in Vietnam said it was putting up the aid after an appeal to the international community by the Vietnamese government.

Typhoon Linda, which struck on Nov.2, has been called the "natural calamity of the century" in Vietnam. According to an official toll it left 304 dead, 1,937 missing and 708 injured. `But there are fears the toll could rise once the authorities have completed searches for those missing, particularly at sea.

Authorities remain hopeful that the effort will pay off. More than 2,200 people have been pulled from the sea since Linda struck, many of them clinging to buoys or fragments of wood for days.