by Ian Timberlake
HANOI, Oct 4, 2009 (AFP) - The death toll from Typhoon Ketsana in Vietnam jumped to 162 on Sunday with hundreds more injured, an official said, adding urgency to a Red Cross appeal launched to help more than 200,000 storm victims.
Another 13 people remain missing and 616 are injured, said the official from the national flood and storm control committee in Hanoi.
Ketsana affected 14 provinces when it made landfall on Tuesday, according to officials, but about half the deaths happened in just two areas: the central fishing province of Quang Ngai and mountainous Kon Tum.
There were 47 dead in Kon Tum and 33 in Quang Ngai, officials from the flood and storm committees in those provinces said on Sunday.
Vietnam suffers annually from tropical storms and typhoons, but this disaster is one of the worst to hit the nation in recent years.
An estimated three million people in Vietnam have been affected by the typhoon, said the Red Cross, which on Friday launched an international appeal for 4.75 million dollars to help 210,000 of the neediest victims.
The Red Cross said it needs help to provide rice, fresh water, and rebuild destroyed homes.
"We are very happy to receive any support, money or goods," Doan Van Thai, secretary general of the Vietnam Red Cross Society, told AFP on Saturday.
Thai, who had just returned from the disaster zone, said he found victims weeping over their loss.
"They said they didn't know how to live in the near future because they have nothing: no food, no fresh water... even no seeds, fertilizer."
Vietnam's Red Cross will be supported by the Geneva-based International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, which approved the appeal.
Thai said donations from Australia and the International Red Cross had helped his organisation meet one of its goals: providing 10,000 kits containing basic household items, including blankets, mosquito nets and kitchen utensils.
With thousands of volunteers across the typhoon-struck central region, the Red Cross is the largest organisation assisting victims, Thai said.
When the typhoon hit, local Red Cross chapters released food, water, instant noodles, boats and other relief items from their stockpiles, the agency said, adding that those supplies are now running out.
This year's death toll exceeds the fatalities in 2006 when Tropical Storm Durian killed at least 70 in the country's south, and Typhoon Xangsane left more than 70 dead in central Vietnam.
Some elderly residents in stricken areas said they had last seen a typhoon with Ketsana's force in 1964, Thai said.
Winds from the typhoon reached up to 149 kilometres (90 miles) per hour.
Survivors now face flooded rice fields, dead cattle and smashed fishing boats that threaten their livelihoods, aid workers say.
"The harvest for this season is probably lost," said Ugo Blanco, who is coordinating disaster response for the United Nations.
He said there is a need to start thinking about the medium and longer-term impact of the disaster and how to help people in this largely rural country get back to work.
Vietnamese officials and foreign aid agencies are to meet Tuesday to assess the typhoon's impact and discuss how the international community might be able to help further.
Ketsana caused devastation across Southeast Asia, killing at least 293 people in the Philippines before striking Vietnam. It also claimed 17 lives in Cambodia and 24 in Laos.
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Received by NewsEdge Insight: 10/04/2009 03:43:40
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