Many Vietnamese agencies and companies have sent in their donations to help the victims in the dam collapse in Laos. (Source: VNA) Hanoi (VNA) – Prime MinisterNguyen Xuan Phuc has decided to provide 200,000 USD as relief aid for the Lao governmentto help the country in the aftermath of the collapse of the Sepien-Senamnoi hydropower dam.
He alsoinstructed the National Committee for Incident, Disaster Response and Search and Rescue, to coordinate with the Ministry of Foreign Affairsand relevant agencies to work out measures to assist Laos on the site of theincident and report back to him before July 30.
Many Vietnameseagencies and companies have also sent in their donations to help the victims inthe incident.
On July 25,Vietnamese Ambassador to Laos Nguyen Ba Hung handed over about 2,200 USD contributedby the staff of the Vietnamese Embassy and its agencies in Laos to the LaoMinistry of Labour and Social Welfare to support the victims.
Later the same day, representatives of theGeneral Association of Vietnamese People in Laos and the Vietnamese Associationin Vientiane also presented 50 million LAK (about 5,950 USD) to victims.
Cao Anh Son, General Director of Vietnam’s StarTelecom Company donated 300 million LAK (35,700 USD) to help affected residents.
The High Command of Military Region 5 of Vietnam asked its South LaosFriendship Co. Ltd. to send 10 medical workers and hundreds of personnel tojoin rescue and relief efforts.
The company disbursed 200 million VND(8,645 USD) to purchase essentialgoods for local residents affected by the incident, while K53 team under theMilitary Command of the Central Highlands province of Kon Tum, which was onduty in Laos, was requested to coordinate with Lao forces to search for missingpeople and help affected residents to overcome the aftermath.
Kon Tum province’s Military Command was also required to preparepersonnel, vehicles and materials to coordinate with relevant forces of Laos insurmounting the consequences of the floods when it is ordered by the HighCommand.
TheSepien-Senamnoi hydropower dam collapsed at 20:00 on July 23, releasing 5billion cu.m of water which completely isolated Sanamxay district.
Lao Prime Minister ThonglounSisoulith said at a press conference on July25 that the dam collapse has already affected 13 villages and is now affectingsix others as the flood is still flowing.
He informed that 587 families with 3,060 people have been made homeless,and
131 people are still missing.
The Sepien-Senamnoihydro electric power plant is being constructed by the Sepien-Senamnoi PowerCompany (PNPC), which is a joint-venture of SK Engineering and Construction (SKE&C), Korea Western Power (KOWEPO), Ratchaburi Electricity GeneratingHolding (RATCH) and Lao Holding State Enterprise (LHSE).
SK E&Cholds a 24 percent stake in PNPC, LHSE 26 percent and RATCH and KOWEPO equallysplit the remaining share in the project.
The project, which is estimated to cost 1.02billion USD, is the first build-operate-transfer (BOT) project to be undertakenby Korean companies in Laos.
Construction of the project began in February2013 and commercial operations were expected to begin this year.-VNA
VNA
