Disaster Response Must Combine Emergency Relief with Sustainable Livelihood Recovery
	More than 45,000 People Receive Livelihood Recovery Support from Oxfam Following Typhoon Yagi

The support package includes: Conditional cash assistance of VND 3,800,000 per household for 300 vulnerable households affected by natural disasters, aimed at helping them restore their livelihoods; Training in production and business knowledge and skills for households; Capacity-building for disaster prevention among local government officials, provincial and commune-level organizations, and disaster response teams; and Support for small and medium-sized enterprises to develop plans for disaster risk reduction and proactive emergency response

In Nghe An province, Oxfam and the provincial Red Cross Society plan to deploy an emergency humanitarian aid package worth nearly VND 4 billion for six communes severely affected by storm Wipha (Storm No. 3) on July 21–22, 2025, and storm Kajiki (Storm No. 5) which made landfall last week. The communes expected to receive support include My Ly, Nhon Mai, Huu Khuong, Tuong Duong, Muong Xen, and Tri Le.

Oxfam representative in Vietnam (L) presented more than VND 10 billion to the representative of Lao Cai Red Cross Society to restore and rebuild the lives of people in Lao Cai after storm Yagi. (Photo: Oxfam)

According to an Oxfam representative, the budget for this initiative is mobilized from international aid sources, with a strong focus on enhancing disaster prevention capacity and enabling communities to respond more effectively and proactively to the growing impacts of climate change. All activities are designed in close collaboration with local authorities and communities, based on thorough assessments of post-disaster recovery needs.

In a July 2025 interview with the VietnamTimes magazine, Pham Quang Tu, Deputy Country Director of Oxfam in Vietnam, shared three key lessons from post-disaster response and recovery efforts:

First, emergency assistance and livelihood restoration must be linked, not treated as separate phases. True recovery only begins when people’s livelihoods are stabilized.

Second, effective collaboration between government authorities, social organizations, donors, and, most importantly, local communities is essential.

Third, amending regulations related to emergency relief is necessary. While Vietnam has a legal framework in place, such as Decree No. 50/2020/ND-CP on the management of international emergency aid, and Decree No. 80/2020/ND-CP on non-refundable foreign aid outside official development assistance, the implementation process remains complex and time-consuming.

Disaster Response Must Combine Emergency Relief with Sustainable Livelihood Recovery Beyond emergency aid, the Yagi Typhoon Recovery Project implemented by Oxfam and its partners in Lao Cai, Yen Bai, and Hoa Binh (now Lao Cai ...

More than 45,000 People Receive Livelihood Recovery Support from Oxfam Following Typhoon Yagi More than 45,000 residents in Phu Tho and Lao Cai provinces have received emergency assistance and livelihood recovery support through a post-Typhoon Yagi recovery project ...