From the S&S archives: Floods leave 117,000 homeless

DA NANG, Vietnam — Flood waters receded in most areas of Vietnam' s disaster-stricken northern provinces as Vietnamese and American relief efforts continued Monday.

After two days without rain or gusting winds, 88,000 of the flood's 205,000 victims have returned to their homes, leaving 117,000 persons in refugee camps, a Vietnamese military spokesman said here Monday.

ARVN spokesmen put water levels at nine to 12 feet above normal at the flood's peak Friday. They said official figures now show 159 people killed and eight missing, with 1,000 homes destroyed and 3,170 damaged by floods.

The spokesman said about 50,000 people have been evacuated by Vietnamese and American ships and helicopters since the storm hit last week. Americans have rescued 28,425 people and moved 772 tons of emergency supplies, according to a U.S. military spokesman.

Vietnamese military spokesmen said military operations have returned to normal. There has been no evidence of enemy activity to capitalize on the storm's disruption, informed sources said.

There has been no shortage of rice, a regional official of the Civil Operations and Rural Development Support (CORDS) said, and it was reported that government warehouses were well stocked with clothing, food and medical supplies to provide for the emergency.

American province advisors were still trying Monday to assess the effects of the storm on American and Vietnamese pacification programs in the critical areas of Quang Nam and Quang Ngai provinces.

Col. William L. Boiler, assistant deputy for CORDS in I Military Region, said he felt it is doubtful that pacification efforts will be set back appreciably.

"In fact," he said, "this is a good chance for the government to show what it can do for the people."

Fifty-five per cent of all crops in the ground last week are believed destroyed, according to a CORDS official. But, he said, 70 to 80 per cent of the current rice crop had been harvested before the rains hit.

The official also said the Vietnamese government has dispensed 55 million piasters ($460,000) in aid to victims in the region.

Lt. Gen. Hoang Xuan Lam, I Military Region commander, placed highest priorities Monday on clearing the region's roads, and an ARVN spokesman said Highway 1, the main link among all five provinces, is now generally open.

An Americal Div. civil affairs officer said the highway in Quang Tin and Quang Ngai provinces is open now with American engineers building spans at several places where bridges have been washed out. The Hai Van Pass on Highway 1 between Da Nang and Hue, which was closed by a rock slide during the storm, was scheduled to be open Monday evening, informed sources said.

Eight Vietnamese public health service teams were dispatched to the provinces and report having cared for more than 6,000 patients, a Vietnamese government spokesman said. He said they are inoculating flood victims against cholera and plague, while an Americal officer reported that his division's units are continuing to run Medcaps to immunize the people against disease.