HA TINH: Shaken residents in central Vietnam were piecing their homes and businesses back together on Saturday after a powerful typhoon hammered large swathes of coast and killed at least four people.
Typhoon Doksuri tore through Vietnam on Friday afternoon, reducing structures to piles of debris and knocking out electricity and telecommunications in several provinces, in one of the worst storms to hit the country in years.
Residents woke up on Saturday to the widespread destruction in normally idyllic coastal communities popular among beachgoers.
“I sat inside my house covering my ears, I didn’t dare leave as I was so scared,” Mai Thi Tinh, whose restaurant in Ha Tinh province was completely destroyed, said.
“The power is still off so we can’t do anything. I don’t know how long it will take to recover,” she said.
At least four people were killed and eight injured, according to Vietnam’s Disaster Management Authority.
Some 123,000 homes were damaged and trees and power lines were torn down in five hard-hit provinces, the disaster agency said.
“The wind was so bad that I hid under the bed. I’m old but I’m afraid of death,” retired teacher Tran Ngoc Khang said in Ha Tinh. — AFP
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