OCHA Situation Report No. 1
Viet Nam: Typhoon Durian
6 December 2006


This situation report is based on information received from the United 
Nations Resident Coordinator's office in Hanoi, OCHA's Regional Office 
for Asia and the Pacific in Bangkok and media reports.

Situation

1. After leaving the Philippines, Durian was downgraded to a severe 
tropical storm and headed southwest towards the Mekong Delta. It briefly 
strengthened to a typhoon as it skirted the southern tip of Viet Nam 
before again weakening to a tropical storm and, further, to a tropical 
depression as it entered the Gulf of Thailand.

2. According to the UN RC's Office in Hanoi, 12 coastal provinces in 
South Central and South of Viet Nam have been affected. So far, there 
are reports of at least 48 people killed, 49 missing and 433 people 
injured. A total of 120,899 houses have been damaged or destroyed and 
896 fishing boats sunk.

National and International response

3. The Chairman of the Viet Nam Central Committee for Flood and Storm 
Control (CCFSC) and a Deputy Prime Minister have been in the affected 
provinces over the last 4-5 days to guide the preparedness and response 
process. Another Government delegation has departed to affected 
provinces in the morning of 6 December.

4. The UN team together with the Natural Disaster Mitigation Partnership 
and the INGO/Disaster Management Working Group have met three times to 
follow up on the situation and prepare to support to Government. As 
there has not been a request from CCFSC for a joint assessment, the UN 
team will meet again on 7 December to decide its course of action. 
Meanwhile, all logistics preparation has been put in place and teams in 
the field of different agencies are collecting information, 
complementing official CCFSC updates.

5. OCHA is in close contact with the UN Resident Coordinator's Office in 
Hanoi and its ROAP in Bangkok and will revert with further information 
as it becomes available. This situation report, together with further 
information on ongoing emergencies, is also available on the OCHA 
Internet Website at http://www.reliefweb.int.

Tel:  +41-22-917 12 34
Fax: +41-22-917 00 23
E-mail: ochagva@un.org

In case of emergency only: Tel:   +41-22-917 20 10

Desk Officers:
  GVA - Ms. Paola Emerson, Direct Tel. +41-22-9171613
  NYC - Ms. Ah-Young Kim, Direct Tel. +1-212-963-5131

Press contact:
  GVA - Ms. Elizabeth Byrs, Direct Tel. +41-22-917 2653
  NYC - Ms. Stephanie Bunker, Direct Tel. + 1-917 367 5126

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