A ceremony took place in Da Nang on Friday morning to celebrate 62 years of the Agent Orange (AO) disaster in Viet Nam (August 10, 1961 - August 10, 2023) and launch the Action Month for AO Victims in 2023.

Editor-in-Chief of the Da Nang Newspaper Nguyen Duc Nam (middle) presents the programme's organisers with an amount of VND 20 million in support of AO victims in the city. Photo: LE HUNG

The event was co-hosted by the municipal Association of Victims of Agent Orange/dioxin (DAVA), the Da Nang Newspaper, the Da Nang Radio and Television Station, the municipal Military High Command, the municipal War Veterans’ Association, the municipal Youth Union and the municipal Department of Education and Training.

Vice Chairman of the Viet Nam Association of AO/Dioxin Victims Nguyen Van Khanh said that the celebration ceremony was a deeply humanitarian activity in line with Vietnamese culture, tradition and national morality.

He affirmed that, every year, the national government spends more than VND10,000 billion to provide monthly allowances, and health care and rehabilitation services for AO victims, and hardest-hit areas due to the effects of AO.

According to the Da Nang Association of Victims of AO/dioxin, during the war in Viet Nam, the US military sprayed nearly 80 million litres of toxic chemicals containing 366kg of dioxin across a quarter of southern Viet Nam, destroying ecosystems and causing many species of animals and plants to disappear, according to the Viet Nam Association of Victims of AO. As many as 4.8 million Vietnamese people were exposed to the toxins, and more than 3 million were victims. Currently, many families have 2-3 victims. Many women do not enjoy the natural position of being a wife and mother. Tens of thousands of children have deformities and birth defects, and live in a permanent vegetative state. Hundreds of thousands of victims have died and others are still struggling with serious diseases.

Wheelchairs are given to representatives of AO victims in the city. Photo: LE HUNG

According to a survey conducted in 2020, 2,476 people in Da Nang directly participated in the resistance wars. 815 people are their descendants who are AO victims and over 13,078 people are suspected of being exposed to toxic chemicals. Most of them are living in very difficult circumstances, and always need material and spiritual support.

In his remarks at the ceremony, Chairman of DAVA To Nam took the opportunity to appeal for departments, agencies and sectors at all levels, and benefactors at both home and abroad, to continue to help and create conditions for AO victims and unfortunate ones to have a better material and spiritual life.

As of July 28, more than 20 domestic and foreign units, organisations and individuals had donated a total of more than VND3.7 billion in cash and in-kind to the programme.

On the occasion, the programme’s organisers presented 14 wheelchairs and supported equipment to open sewing classes for AO victims. Also at the ceremony, participating delegates supported the campaign by texting DA CAM to 1409.

Reporting by LE HUNG - Translating by M.DUNG