VietNamNet Bridge – More than 2,500 day-boarder students in seven communes in Quang Nam have been facing hunger because they have no rice. Flood and landslides have put the schools here in utter isolation.

Students are trying to return home to get cooking

In Tra Van and Tra Vinh communes, the tracks of the flood are still clearly seen. Students go to school barefoot in the piercing cold in torn clothes. They can be seen huddling in the corner of the classroom, shivering.

Headmaster of the secondary school, Nguyen Van Xuan, related that students here have been short of food. Every month, they get VND100,000 from the state, which is just enough to purchase rice for 10 days. They have to eat forest bamboo shoots instead of rice and share with teachers what they get. They do not dare to want warm clothes and blankets for winter. In the rooms of the students, reporters saw thin blankets with many holes. Ho Van Zon, a student of the school, related that in order to fight the cold, they sleep in threes or fours.

500 students of Tra Tap Secondary School in Tra Tap commune have to live in cottages installed temporarily or in local residents’ houses near the school. A teacher here related that the students rarely have three meals a day. Many of them always eat cassava.

Clearing the way for famine relief

After the latest fact-finding trip to Nam Tra My district, the chairman of the Quang Nam People’s Committee ordered food and foodstuff to be sent to the seven communes by pack-saddle. The communes have been isolated since October 16 due to the seriously damaged road. The lives of the residents in 10/10 communes here, who are all listed as poor households, have been severely stricken due to the flood and crop failure.

Deputy Chairman of Nam Tra My district Nguyen Van Dien related that the 2,500 day-boarder students cannot return home to get food. The food they got was just for one week, while they have been stuck for three weeks already. Dien said that the students need everything, from salt, lighting oil, mosquito nets to blankets and warm clothes.

There are 50 tonnes of food now in the centre of Nam Tra My district. However, it could not be further away from the hungry students.

(Source: Tuoi tre)