Typhoon Durian

I have been concerned about Typhoon Durian.

This Typhoon hit the news when it ran through the Philippines, killing about 500 people, mainly under mud slides. That was disturbing enough. We have friends of friends who live in the Philippines.

It lost power and I think it was only a tropical storm by the time it hit Vietnam, killing 50 people in an area unused to tropical storms. I then learnt that Ba-Ria Vung Tau took the brunt of the storm, with 23 dead.

Lan's two sons and many of her family and friends live in Vung Tau.

Lan remained relaxed. She didn't believe in Typhoon Durian when I first told her, she thought I was just joking about the awful, smelly durian fruit she had just brought home. The Vietnamese language Internet sources didn't mention it. Anyway, Lan had weathered Tropical Storm Linda in 1997 (I had weathered from a 100km away in HCMC), at that time one of the worst storms on record.

Today we heard from Lan's sons and have seen reports on VN cable TV. As far as we have learnt, Lan's family and friends are uninjured. The storm hit at 4.30am ripping rooves off houses, not just rural houses but modern concrete and tile villas. Lan's sons live in a ground floor flat of a two-storey building. The wind pulled tiles off the roof of the flat above. (See the first photo). These tiles smashed through the roof of our ground floor extension. Five years ag,o Lan employed the man upstairs and his mate to replace the roof of the extension. I helped them, much to their amusement. (See the second photo.)

Also damaged is the nightclub where Lan's eldest son works, so he is out of a job at the moment. We have sent money for repairs and a few luxuries.

The VN cable news shows a lot of damage to houses and trees and the politicians are having lots of meetings to deal with it. The report claims 34 died in Ba-Ria Vung Tau. Good thing we haven't built on either of our plots of land yet.

Update
We just learnt that friend's coffee shop was badly damaged. We feel very sorry for or friend, but Lan relieved that she turned down the request to invest in this venture.

Of course almost nothing in Vietnam (except for foriegn commercial buildings) is insured. Insurance companies are starting to appear in Vietnam, but it is said that no one has ever heard of Vietnamese insurance paying out.



Click on the above image for the news article.