VietNamNet - HCM City plans to offer happy Tet for everyone | HCM City plans to offer happy Tet for everyone

HCM City plans to offer happy Tet for everyone

VietNamNet Bridge – Local authorities, agencies and organisations in HCM City have been implementing several programmes to ensure that poor and disadvantaged people enjoy the Tet (Lunar New Year) festival.

Customers shop at Tan Thong Hoi Co.opmart in HCM City. The city has been implementing several programmes to ensure that the poor have an enjoyable Tet. (Photo: VNS)

Le Thi Bich Khanh, deputy chairwoman of the Binh Thanh People's Committee, said her district has made plans to organise Tet entertainment activities to ensure that Tet festivities are enjoyed by every family and every individual.
"Binh Thanh will present 200 gifts, each worth VND500,000 (US$24), to disadvantaged households who are beneficiaries of the State's preferential policies, 1,200 gifts for poor children and 120 gifts for poor teachers," she said.
Poor households with an annual average income of below VND12 million ($570) per person will each receive gifts worth VND300,000 and those who have an annual average income below VND8 million ($380) per person will receive gifts worth VND500,000.
Nguyen Thi Nam, who lives in Binh Thanh's Ward 21, said: "My family is listed as one of the district's poor households. Thanks to gifts and the care of local authorities, my family will have an adequate Tet," she said.
This Tet, the city's Fund for the Poor will spend about VND3.6 billion ($171,000) to care for households who are listed for the State's preferential policies, disadvantaged workers and students.
Duong Quang Ha, head of the fund raising board, said the fund has mobilised agencies, enterprises, ethnic and religious groups as well as the general public to donate under the theme: "Do not let any poor household miss out on Tet".
City agencies and organ-isations last week began to visit and present Tet gifts to the needy. The visits will last until January 18. Tet falls on January 23.
Meanwhile, the city's Red Cross chapter will present 25,000 gifts, each worth VND300,000, to disadvantaged households.
Nguyen Thi Hue, chairwoman of the chapter, said these gifts were made possible by donations from the community at large and philanthropists.
The HCM City Export Processing and Industrial Zone Authority (HEPZA) will give 6,000 bus tickets to industrial park workers who have not returned to their homes in the central and northern regions for many years, according to HEPZA Trade Union.
The union will also present thousands of gifts to laid off workers and migrant workers who stay in the city during Tet.
In addition, many companies will support employees with Tet gifts and bus tickets.
The city's Youth Union will give 1,000 gifts and 1,000 bus tickets to young workers.
The HCM City Women's Union also has plans to provide 1,000 gifts to female workers and provide other assistance to them, especially those who are unable to return to their homes to celebrate the Lunar New Year festivals.
The city's Farmers Association will also give 1,000 clean water storage tanks, gifts and health insurance cards for disabled children of farmers. The total value of the assistance provided is estimated at VND5 billion.
VietNamNet/Viet Nam News

It’s a national disaster | Look At Vietnam - Vietnam news daily update

It’s a national disaster

January 15, 2011 about News

Victim of a motorbike accident sits on a sidewalk in HCMC’s Binh Thanh District.

Sometimes, disasters are not so in-your-face, like a tsunami or an earthquake.
They could happen in bits and pieces, in trickles instead of a deluge, and we are not likely to see them as a full-scale disaster.
Last month, a national conference on traffic safety in Hanoi reported that 11,449 people were killed in 14,442 traffic accidents in the country last year. 10,663 others were injured.
Compared to the previous year, the number of cases increased by 1,788.
While the death toll went down by 47, the number of injuries went up by 2,500.
The figures get scarier if we look at them closely, and make a few calculations and comparisons.
The latest death toll means 31 people die every day, 217 a week - the casualty rate of a plane crash. At the current rate of traffic fatalities, the equivalent of the entire population of a mountainous district of 30,000 people would be wiped out in less than three years.
The consequences of these accidents don’t stop at the loss of life and the injuries sustained.
A report by the World Health Organization says that road accidents cost between 1-2 percent of GDP in developing countries. That kind of money, which can be used to help thousands of poor people, is spent on treating victims of traffic accidents.
The government set up a National Traffic Safety Committee, and several agencies to enforce traffic laws. Traffic safety news is aired every day on national television, and thousands of community activities are held to promote traffic safety.
But traffic accidents have not decreased. Why?
More than a month ago, I caught a bus from the central province of Quang Tri to Nghe An Province. Like most other buses running from the north to the south, this one was also old, and very crowded.
When it rained, the whole windshield became opaque, as wipers broke down. But, the driver was still speeding and almost crashed into vehicles running in the opposite direction many times.
It’s unbelievable that the lives of people on the bus were at risk because of broken windshield wipers and an irresponsible driver.
If traffic officials agree to take a trip from north to south by motorbike or an old bus like millions of ordinary people, instead of by plane or car, they will understand better the risks involved, and come up with more effective policies.
We are lucky to live in a peaceful country. But how peaceful is it when we face the threat of traffic accidents whenever we go out.
We have talked so much about the causes of traffic accidents – increasing urban population density, increasing number of vehicles, poor awareness of traffic regulations, infrastructural deficiencies and so on.
But, as long as we aren’t fully aware of the reasons behind and consequences of traffic accidents, we are doomed to revisit these figures every year. We have to recognize the scale of this problem: it is truly a national disaster.

By Le Duc Duc (Tuoi Tre)