It was late at night, but many residential areas in Da Nang city were lit up. In those places, people of all ages were wrapping and boiling chung cakes to ship to people in the flood-hit areas in the north the next morning. Each cake would convey the love of Da Nang’s people to their northern compatriots during this difficult time.

Nguyen Thanh Long of Hoa Hai ward in Ngu Hanh Son district said every Vietnamese person feels sympathy with and wants to share the difficulties of fellow citizens who are suffering from the storm and flood.

He told VOV, “Yesterday we wrapped 1,000 cakes. Today we wrapped another 1,000 to send to the north to support our countrymen. Each of us lent a hand and contributed money to buy the materials. We mobilized women to participate in wrapping and cooking chung cakes all night long.”

Volunteer teams from the central region drove trucks to deliver chung cakes and relief goods and participated in rescue and post-storm clean-up efforts to help the northerners stabilize their lives. Hundreds of central highlanders have flocked to reception stations with food and other necessities.

In Ho Chi Minh City, on Monday night, just one day after typhoon Yagi swept through Vietnam’s northern localities, volunteers prepared goods to send to people in Thai Nguyen, Yen Bai, Lao Cai, and Tuyen Quang province. Thousands of life jackets, tons of dry food, and thousands of flashlights were packed into large boxes to be quickly transported to Tan Son Nhat airport for the next flight to Hanoi.

Hoang Tuan Anh, who is known for his "Rice ATM" initiative of providing free rice to people effected by the COVID-19 pandemic, is buying motorboats, life jackets, and food to send to the north.  

He said that he and his friends will coordinate with the provincial and municipal Youth Unions in the north.

“After receiving these items, they’ll organize rescue teams who will use the motorboats to access areas that are heavily flooded. In addition to carrying out emergency rescues, they can also deliver food and move isolated people to safer places,” said Tuan Anh.

Many individuals and volunteer groups in Ho Chi Minh City and other southern localities plan to provide materials and technical support to rebuild houses.

Areas in Lang Son city were flooded by the typhoon, but as soon as the water receded, local residents started contributing necessities to help more severely damaged areas.

Here’s what some people in Lang Son city saying:

“I think every Vietnamese person, not just in Lang Son but all over the country, wants to help. An individual is just one person, but when we all contribute, we can do great things.”

“We have sent every affected district 100 barrels of drinking water and called on volunteers to help people in isolated areas. That Khe, Văn Quan, Bình Gia, Bac Son, and Huu Lung have all organized relief aid vehicles.”

Vietnamese communities abroad have raised funds to help victims in the homeland. The mutual affection and solidarity will help people in northern Vietnam recover from the disaster.