After wrecking the Philippines, Tropical Storm Ketsana advances through Vietnam

Tropical Storm Ketsana continues to advance. Yesterday it hit Cambodia and Vietnam, where the government reports at least 66 deaths from flooding.  Ketsana killed more than 240 people when it passed through the Philippines last weekend.  Dr. Marinus Gotink works with UNICEF´s office in the Philippines. He just visited some of the hardest-hit areas.

“What one can see right now is that major damage has happened along the waterways. The people described it as a "tsunami came".  In about one hour or less the water levels raised up to four to five meters above the normal levels which means that houses built alongside of the river, bridges, everything was completely destroyed actually. And the water has retreated right now in many places and it left an enormous amount of debris and mud so that there's a cleaning operation going on. There are many poor living alongside of the river in shanty houses and they are trying to rebuild, they are trying to clean up with the very little thing they had. And it's kind of heartbreaking to see how well they keep up their spirits. And these people have lost everything so they need to have something to restart. That's what I saw.”

In Vietnam, authorities say they evacuated more than 170, 000 people in preparation for the storm. Ketsana also hit neighboring Cambodia where local authorities have put the death toll at 11.