On behalf of the Prime Minister, Assistant to the Minister of Foreign Affairs Nguyen Minh Hang on April 1 symbolically presented 200 tonnes of rice worth nearly 100,000 USD as a gift from the Vietnamese Government and people to the Philippines to help address Typhoon Rai’s aftermath, as vietnamplus reported.

Hang expressed her sympathies with the Philippine people on the consequences caused by Typhoon Rai that hit the country last December.

Assistant to the Minister of Foreign Affairs Nguyen Minh Hang (R) symbolically hands over the rice aid to Philippine Ambassador Meynardo Montealegre on April 1. (Photo: VNA)

The rice aid demonstrates Viet Nam’s attention to the storm victims as well as its wish to unceasingly solidify the strategic partnership between the two countries. Photo: baoquocte.vn.

She stressed that the Vietnamese Government and people always stand side by side with their Philippine counterparts in the spirit of cooperation, friendship, and mutual support.

According to Vnexpress, the donation is a mark of Vietnam's support for victims of the typhoon and desire to constantly strengthen the strategic partnership between the two countries, she added.

For his part, Philippine Ambassador Meynardo Montealegre thanked the Vietnamese Government and people for the precious support, describing this as practical assistance for his country in the trying time.

He affirmed that the Philippine side will work closely with Viet Nam to complete relevant procedures to swiftly distribute the rice to people in the typhoon-hit areas, as The World and Vietnam reported.

According to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), Typhoon Rai claimed more than 400 lives, and destroyed and damaged 1.5 million homes in the Philippines.

The IFRC and Red Crescent Societies warned of a "mounting health crisis" in typhoon-hit areas as it scaled up its disaster response. The typhoon left millions without access to clean drinking water, hospitals and health facilities, IFRC Philippine delegation head Alberto Bocanegra said.

Search and rescue for victims in the disaster (Photo: VNA)

The United Nations World Food Programme, meanwhile, voiced concern over a rapid rise in preventable malnutrition if affected families are not provided with badly needed food assistance. The United Nations on December 24 raised 107.2 million USD in a campaign to support survivors of super typhoon Rai that hit the Philippines.

A total of 402 people have died from the typhoon which struck the country on December 16 last year, according to the Philippine civil defence office's latest tally, with more than 1,200 injured and 78 still missing and at least 370,000 still in evacuation centres.

Survivors have likened the storm to Super Typhoon Haiyan, which left 7,300 people dead or missing across the central Philippines in 2013 and remains the country's deadliest on record.

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