The Red Cross assessment team continues
its work in the Mekong delta of southern Vietnam, travelling mostly by
riverboat along the canals and tributaries that make up the water-based
communities in this part of the country.
Everywhere along the shore, evidence
of Typhoon Linda's visit can be seen in the destruction of property, the
uprooted trees and the overturned fishing boats. In several places, large
craft are now sitting on dry land, in a dramatic display of Linda's gale-force
winds.
Across the generations, the majority of the Mekong Delta population have eeked out a marginal existence, generating income through fishing, day labour, and - where there is enough fertile land to grow fruits and vegetables - by tending small garden plots.
Although this calamity has caused the largest loss of life at sea in recorded memory for southern fishing villages, those who did survive can return to their livelihood.
For day labourers and garden farmers,
the economic disruption and environmental destruction pose a dire challenge
to a
recovery of household food and income security, meagre as it is.
=A91997 International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies