Social News 18/9 Truck blazes inside Hai Van tunnel A truck burst into flames some 2.1km inside the Hai Van Tunnel last night in the central city, temporarily closing the tunnel. No serious injuries were reported by authorities, though the truck was destroyed. The Hai Van Tunnel management company, Hamadeco, reported on the incident yesterday morning. The truck, which is registered in Quang Tri Province, was travelling north to south when it caught fire. Three fire-fighting teams were called to put out the fire and evacuate passengers from two buses and 15 trucks caught inside the tunnel. The tunnel was closed for three hours until the smoke had cleared and the burned out truck removed of the tunnel at around 1am this morning (September 17th). Traffic police are investigating the accident. Tunnels have seen a series of accidents since August. On Monday, five vehicles were involved in a collision in the Hai Van Tunnel, slightly injuring 12 passengers and damaging three cars. On August 20, one person was killed and another was seriously injured in the tunnel when a truck struck a wall after its breaks failed. Three year ago, an engine fire enveloped a 40-tonne truck inside the 6km long tunnel that connects Thua Thien-Hue Province and Da Nang City. According to Nguyen Dinh Bach, general director of Hamadeco, from June 2005 to 2014 the tunnel had seen 11 overturned vehicles, 53 accidents and 41 fires. As scheduled, the Deo Ca Investment joint-stock company plans to widen the single-lane Hai Van rescue tunnel to a two-lane traffic route to run parallel to the existing two-lane tunnel route. 38 cluster bombs found in Quảng Binh About 38 cluster bombs were discovered in Sa Vong Wood in Tuyen Hoa District in the central Quang Binh Province yesterday. Local resident Ngo Huu Huyen found the bombs when he visited his acacia-growing area in Sa Vong Wood. He immediately informed the local authorities of his discovery. After receiving the information, Tuyen Hoa District's Military Command personnel arrived at the site to defuse the bombs. Wartime bombs are frequently discovered in Tuyen Hoa and Minh Hoa Districts of Quang Binh Province after spells of heavy rain, local authorities said. 15 seamen missing after fishing ship sinks Three of 18 fishermen on a ship were rescued, as of noon today, following an accident yesterday at sea off Ba Ria-Vung Tau Province. According to authorities, the ship's gas tank exploded at about 3am yesterday when it was some 25 nautical miles from Con Dao Island. All 18 men aboard the ship were forced into the sea. Vietnam Maritime Search and Rescue Co-ordination Centre (VMRCC) assigned a ship to search for the victims. The VMRCC is joining with other agencies to search for the remaining 15 crew members. But the weather on the Ba Ria-Vung Tau sea was reported to be poor, with rough seas and wind speeds of 62-74km per hour, creating difficulties in searching for the missing men. USAID provides $2 million to battle animal diseases The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has given Viet Nam US$2.1 million to help it fight against animal diseases, officials said. Viet Nam's agriculture and rural development deputy minister, Vu Vãn Tám, and the Country Representative of Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) in Viet Nam, Jongha Bae, signed the project here yesterday. The project, titled "Risk mitigation and management of human health threats along animal value chains," aims to both prevent animal diseases and improve breeders' living standards. It includes four main components: One-Health mechanisms and collaboration; disease risk reduction along livestock value chains; surveillance for disease prevention and control; and cross-border collaborations in the lower Mekong and Red River deltas to prevent the spread of disease. "Our new project will be built upon the long-standing successful avian influenza emergency response programme previously implemented by the FAO Emergency Centre for Transboundary Animal Diseases Operations (ECTAD) country team," Bae said at the signing ceremony. "And they will once again play an important role in ensuring FAO collaboration and support in Viet Nam." The Vietnamese deputy minister expressed appreciation for USAID's support through the FAO to help Viet Nam fight against avian influenza, pledging that the agricultural ministry would closely supervise partners in order to implement the project effectively. Dr. Scott Newman, the Senior Technical Coordinator of FAO ECTAD Viet Nam, said the co-operation between the FAO and Vietnamese Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development had resulted in reducing the impact of the avian influenza virus on poultry and people by improving the country's capacity to detect and respond to the disease. However, after surviving the crisis surrounding the emergence of highly pathogenic avian influenza (H5N1), the need for a fundamentally sustainable approach to fight against not only avian influenza but also other livestock and zoonotic transboundary diseases has emerged. Popular mooncake shop temporarily closed The health ministry's food safety and hygiene inspectors have suspended the operation of a mooncake shop at 223 Thuy Khue Street in Tay Ho District. The shop is owned by household mooncake maker Bao Phuong. The shop was in an unhygienic condition, Deputy Director of the ministry's Food Hygiene and Safety Department Dr Nguyen Hung Long said during the inspection yesterday afternoon. While checking the quality of pork fat and chicken eggs, the investigators found that the manufacturer had violated food safety and hygiene regulations, and also could not provide clear proof of the origins of the ingredients or the business licence. There was no warehouse for storing ingredients. Some were stored on the racks in the manufacturing area, while others were laid out next to damp and musty walls, the Dan Tri online newspaper reported. The inspection team has asked the municipal health department inspectors to impose administrative punishment on the manufacturer. Two samples of banh nuong (baked sticky rice cake) and banh deo (sticky rice cake) have been sent to the National Institute for Food Safety and Hygiene for testing. Bao Phuong is a renowned private mooncake brand in Ha Noi. Every year, in the run up to the Mid-Autumn festival, the shop draws lots of people of different ages who queue up to buy the cakes. To ensure the quality of the mooncakes ahead of the Mid-Autumn festival (falling on September 27 this year), six inspection teams have been set up to check the quality of mooncake producers in 12 cities and provinces across the country, including Ha Noi. The month-long campaign will run till September 30.  Two die in Quang Binh floods Two people were killed by floodwaters following continuous rains since last Saturday till yesterday in this central province. Meanwhile, a whirlwind on Wednesday injured a person and uprooted the roofs of 85 houses. Thirty-four year old Nguyen Van Thuc, a resident of the province's Ba Don Town, and Cao Thanh Hai, 39, of Minh Hoa District, were drowned while they were fishing in heavy rain and in strong, surging waters. The average rainfall was 100mm to 370mm. The water level of the rivers in the locality rose and stayed at critical levels. On Wednesday, whirlwinds in Bo Trach and Quang Ninh Districts damaged 85 houses and injured a resident in Quang Ninh. The strong winds wrecked three fishing boats on the coast. Local authorities are providing assistance to the affected residents and have called for high alert over extreme weather phenomena. Commuters in Huong Hoa District in central Quang Binh Province. — Photo cand.com.vn Heavy rains and whirlwinds also happened in the neighbouring Quang Tri Province, flooding many areas and blowing away the roofs of 35 houses. About 1m-high floods in the province's Huong Hoa District blocked road travel, and students in these areas had to travel to schools by boat. Whirlwinds damage houses in Quang Tri Two whirlwinds damaged 35 buildings in this central province yesterday, while a commune in the province's mountainous district was cut off by a flash flood. A strong whirlwind hit Trieu Phong District, blowing away the roofs of 26 houses and damaging a school and a healthcare centre in the communes of Trieu Hoa and Trieu Long. No casualties were reported. However, the whirlwind caused economic losses as crops in the local farms were destroyed. A whirlwind of lesser intensity in the province's Vinh Linh District uprooted the roofs of seven houses and felled 300 nine-year-old rubber trees. In the mountainous Dakrong District, Panang Commune was cut off by a flash flood. Strong floodwaters prevented people from leaving the commune. All roads were blocked, affecting the safety of commuters and vehicles. Nguyen Quang Dai, a commune official, said the residents were living on food sent from outside the commune. There are many students of a local school among the people who are stranded. They are likely to be cut-off today also as strong waters continue to flow down the mountain following heavy rains yesterday. Central region overcomes consequence after storm Typhoon No. 3 weakened into a low pressure after making landfall in the south central provinces from Da Nang to Quang Ngai with its level 6- 8 strong wind and prolonged heavy rains, reported the department of natural disaster prevention and control in the Central and Central Highlands region yesterday. At present, local authorities and functional forces are trying to help people repair houses to stabilize quickly their lives and production after the typhoon. However, sea rough and big waves snatched five fishing vessels and tourist boats. As soon as the typhoon passed directly through, functional forces fished it out from sea water. Moreover, big wave caused landslide and flood tide in Hoi An’s Cua Dai, Duy Xuyen. Dealing with bad natural condition, authorities of Hoi An, Duy Xuyen moved local people and animals to safer places. Heavy rains also caused landslide in mountain districts of Quang Nam such as Nam Giang, Tay Giang and Phuoc Son, causing difficult traffic. After the typhoon swept through Da Nang city, Da Nang Green Trees and Park Company mobilized staffs to remove and replant uproot trees. A cyclone yesterday blew up 45 house roofs and destroyed hectares of vegetable crops in Tan Ninh, Van Ninh and An Ninh commune, Quang Ninh district, Quang Binh province, announced deputy chairman of the People’s Committee of Quang Ninh district. Quang Ninh district’s Red Cross Society Chairwoman Pham Thi Hong Minh said that the Red Cross Society supported VND 500, 000 each family with destroyed home; and the People’s Committee of Quang Ninh district also offered VND 3 million for poor family to repair their houses. At that time, there were around 32 house roofs and hectares of vegetable and rubber cultivation damaged completely by the cyclone and strong wind in Viet Trung town, Bo Trach district. Two days prolonged heavy rains caused a faster rise of flood level on Se Pon River and local streams, blocking many roads and flooding on the large scale, said Steering Committee for Flood and Storm Prevention and Control and Committee for Search and Rescue of Quang Tri province yesterday evening. Local authorities also instructed local schools to allow students absence to ensure safety. Department of Flood and Storm Prevention and Control of Quang Binh province said that highest rainfall on Nhat Le River reached 400mm, yesterday. Midnight blaze destroys wholesale market in Hue A fire that broke out at midnight yesterday has destroyed more than 120 stores in a local market in this province's Tu Ha Town. No loss of life was reported as the market was closed at the time. While the total losses caused by the blaze has not been estimated yet, the affected traders said goods stored in each store were probably worth up to VND1 billion (US$45,000). A nearby street food vendor detected the blaze in the centre of the market and raised alarm after she smelled burning odour and saw condensed smoke rise from the market. The Thua Thien – Hue firefighting department deployed six firefighting vehicles and 50 firemen to extinguish the blaze in three hours. The province's chairman and the director of the local public security department were present at the scene to monitor the rescue work. Fire officials said they suspected sparks caused the large blaze to break out in heavy rain last night. Firefighting efforts could not start swiftly as the gates to the market had been locked for the night. Nguyen Thi Vinh, a trader, said she had imported a three-billion-dong package of luxurious coats for sale during the coming winter and that the blaze destroyed them all. The market, constructed in 2003, serves as a wholesale centre for Huong Tra District, where about 115,000 people live. HCM City hosts int'l cardiology congress Nearly 500 domestic and international cardiologists and experts in cardiology will exchange notes at the scientific congress "New Trends in Management of Cardiovascular Diseases" from October 12-13 in HCM City. The congress, co-organised by the University of Medicine and Pharmacy in HCM City, HCM City University Medical Center and Harvard University Medical School, provides an opportunity to share clinical practice experiences and the latest recommendations in cardiology, interventional cardiology, congenital heart surgery and adult cardiac surgery. Nineteen-nine professors and doctors from the US, England, Singapore, Switzerland, German, Japan, Thailand and Malaysia will present reports at the congress. Health sector seeks social resources to improve services Representatives from the Ministry of Health and hospitals nationwide sought ways to encourage the involvement of sectors and accelerate public-private partnership in healthcare at a conference in Hanoi on September 16. In her opening remarks, Health Minister Nguyen Thi Kim Tien said the event aimed to analyse investments in medical facilities as well as the outcomes and lessons from providing health services. She said Vietnam has supported medical establishments from the central to the grassroots level via various resources such as the State budget, Government bonds and official development assistance, among others. Since 2008, 610 out of 760 hospitals using Government bonds across the country have been opened, she added. However, the official noted, such efforts still have failed to meet the public demand for healthcare. Pointing to the limited State budget, the minister said solutions to mobilise social resources to improve infrastructure, equipment, management and the quality of health services are expected to bring positive results. As a result, the health sector will map out orientations for and solutions to investment attraction along with seeking ways to develop private hospitals during the conference, Tien said. The Department of Planning and Finance under the Ministry of Health said investments in healthcare from the State coffer and Government bonds have shown breakthroughs. Joint ventures have also proven effective, helping improve the quality of diagnosis and treatment and reducing the mortality rate. The department proposed the sector calculate exact health service costs, consider which capital resources should be used for purchasing new equipment and select the best contractors for services within hospitals. Ha Noi police seize thousands of unsafe toys The Ha Noi Market Watch, in co-operation with the municipal police, yesterday seized more than 3,000 smuggled unsafe toys. The move followed an ongoing week-long raid conducted by Ha Noi authorities to inspect the markets before the approaching Mid-Autumn Festival, a children's festival. The market watch team discovered the toys when examining the toy stalls on Hoan Kiem District's streets of Cau Dong, Hang Ca, Hong Ha and Ly Quoc Su, as well as Hang Ma and Nguyen Thien Thuat. During this inspection, the authorities also discovered more than 1,000 smuggled food products labeled as Chinese brands, comprising instant noodles, soy sauce, soft drinks and salted dried apricots, besides dried jelly. They were found in stalls in Hoan Kiem District's Nguyen Tu Gian Street.The owners of the toys and food products failed to produce legal invoices and certificates relating to the products' place of origin. The Ha Noi market watch was preparing legal documents to destroy all the products and fine the owners in accordance with the regulations. Thanh Hoa police seize rotting animal innards Traffic police in the central Thanh Hoa Province yesterday morning discovered more than 900kg of decomposing animal viscera that were being transported to Ha Noi. The rotten innards were stored in 13 styrofoam boxes in the cargo hold of a coach, which was travelling on National Road 1A in Quang Xuong District. The 39-year-old driver, Ngo Quoc Thuong, is a resident in central Quảng Ngai Province. He said the owner of the cargo, living in the central Quang Nam Province, had hired him to deliver them to restaurants in Ha Noi. The police seized the car and sent the innards to the local market watch bureau to be destroyed. Bach Mai Hospital opens consultancy centre for smokers The country's first centre and hotline to provide free consultancy and support for people to stop smoking opened today at Bach Mai General Hospital in Ha Noi. Located in the country's largest hospital, the centre can be easily accessed by a large number of smokers, especially addicts. People and smokers can also access consulting and support services given by health experts at the hotline 1800-6606 from 8am to 10pm daily, except public holidays. The centre's establishment is part of the health ministry and the Fund for Tobacco Harm Reduction's efforts to control the negative effects of tobacco use in Viet Nam. It is also a simple and an easy way to provide access to smokers, and an effective communication channel to raise people's awareness on reducing the harmful effects of tobacco. The health ministry statistics showed that smoking among adult males reduced to 47.7 per cent in 2010, compared to 56.1 per cent in 2001. The smoking rate among juveniles aged between 13 and 15 years also fell from 3.3 per cent in 2007 to 2.5 per cent in 2014. According to the World Health Organisation, tobacco kills nearly six million people each year, of which more than 600,000 are non-smokers who die from passive smoking. In Viet Nam, tobacco claims more than 40,000 lives yearly, and healthcare costs and productivity loss due to tobacco use are estimated at more than US$1 billion per year. Vietnam joins UN in medical scheme Vietnam's military medical teams are preparing a field hospital as part of the country's participation in UN peacekeeping missions. Major general Vu Quoc Binh, head of the Vietnam Military Medical department under the Ministry of Defence, announced this at the opening of the Asia Pacific Military Health Exchange in Danang on September 14. The exchanges allow scientists and experts working in the medical sector to share experience in the field, thus promoting cooperation in military health in particular and healthcare more broadly. "Viet Nam military medical forces have integrated deeper with 30 countries in the region and the world in recent years," Binh said. "We participated in the ASEAN Defence Ministers' Meeting (ADMM) in Malaysia in April, field training on humanitarian activities in disaster in Brunei in 2012; a joint exercise in Indonesia in 2013 and malaria prevention with Australia," he said. Binh said the activities aimed to contribute to peace in the region and the world by using stronger co-operation in dealing with complicated and unstable situations, including pandemics. He said he hoped Viet Nam would learn from the other nations at the health exchange. Rear Admiral Colin Chinn, Command Surgeon, US Pacific Command, said the exchange was a significant opportunity that had taken two years to prepare. He said the event would draw nations closer in sharing experiences and learning from nations in dealing with new challenges. He added that it also marked the 20th anniversary of the normalisation of ties between the US and Vietnam. Lieutenant General Le Chiem, deputy chief of the General Staffs of the Vietnam People's Army, said Vietnam was a developing country and the Military Medical force often lacked money, equipment, technology and personnel training. The exchange, which is co-hosted by the Vietnam Military Medical Department and the headquarters of the US Pacific Command, has attracted 350 deputies from Australia, Bangladesh, Brunei, Cambodia, Fiji, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, the Maldives, Laos, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, the Republic of Korea, Singapore, Thailand, Tonga, the US and Vietnam. It is aimed at preventing and handling disasters and diseases and providing humanitarian assistance, especially related to global health security. Dozens of scientific reports will be presented, including 40 from Vietnam. The reports will focus on external and internal medicine, infections, disease prevention, community health-care, training military medical staff, traditional medicine and the application of advanced technology in healthcare. Taxi drivers tune to interactive radio It is not unusual for Ly Quoc Anh, 39, to start his work day at 7am, driving taxi passengers around Ha Dong District until long after the sun sets. He left the outskirts of Thuong Tin District of Ha Noi to become a taxi driver for Van Xuan Taxi Company, but by the end of the day, he has little time to spend with his family. "I almost have no time to help my wife to pick up my daughter or cook meals," said Anh, who has worked as a driver for a decade. He is one of about 70,000 taxi drivers in Ha Noi, many whom have relocated to the city from other provinces. In an attempt to address some of the common frustrations and hardships faced by taxi drivers, the Voice of Viet Nam's VOV traffic channel established an interactive radio programme allowing drivers to share their thoughts and experiences. The first installation of "I'm a driver" will be broadcast next Wednesday. The programme is being supported by GrabTaxi Viet Nam Co. Ltd. Anh said he hopes it will serve as an outlet to voice the challenges that he and other taxi drivers share. Despite working 12 or more hours per day, he said it is barely enough to cover his basic living expenses. "Money to rent a house, to send my daughter to school, to buy milk for my little son, who was just born several months ago, and to cover a billion other things in daily life," he said, listing his expenses. Anh pays about VND2 million (US$88) per month to rent a room for his four-member family. He said his job is also risky, especially while carrying passengers long distances or late at night. On one occasion, a male passenger refused to pay him VND2.2 million ($97) after Anh drove him a long distance. "I had to use my own money to cover the expense. It's really bad," he said. Pham Trung Tuyen, deputy head of the VOV traffic channel, said during a meeting yesterday that the programme aims to serve as a listening ear – perhaps even as a friend - to ­­the thousands of taxi drivers in Viet Nam who share similar stories and predicaments. The interactive programme is designed to answer questions from drivers across the country and alleviate drivers' pressures in their professional and personal lives, he said. Khuat Viet Hung, vice chairman of the National Committee for Traffic Safety, said the programme is imperative because millions of passengers are able to travel safely every day, thanks to taxi drivers. Over 120 Vietnamese taxi drivers in Ho Chi Minh City shows sign of drug use More than 120 out of about 12,800 taxi drivers working for two Ho Chi Minh City-based taxi-cab firms were detected with signs of drug use, according to the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Transport. A majority of drivers with signs of drug use, 122 ones, are detected at Vinasun and Mai Linh, which are employing 8,790 and 4,487 taxi drivers, respectively, according to the data gathered by the taxi firms from mid-July to mid-September this year, according to the department. Meanwhile, according to reports from transport firms in the city, 65 drivers were ineligible, said the department. Those reports were drawn from the results of health checks organized by 713 firms in Ho Chi Minh City for 29,735 drivers working for them, according to the department. The Department of Transport has asked those transport enterprises not to employ drives with such signs. The transport firms said they are bringing the drivers with signs of drug use to the Ho Chi Minh City Pasteur Institute for retesting, and if correctly identified with drug use, they will be sacked, according to the department. Best Vietnamese sommeliers in French wine named Sommeliers Nguyen Tien Thinh from Da Loc Co., Ltd. and Nguyen Thi Ngoc Phin from Hotel Equatorial HCMC have been respectively named as winner and first runner-up at the Sopexa Trophy. Thinh and Phin are among four contestants in the final round which was held at the consulate general of France in HCMC’s District 1 last week. They achieved high scores from nine judges thanks to their wine knowledge and skills of serving champagne, rose wine, and red wine, among others in a 30-minute challenge. The duo will represent Vietnam at a regional contest in Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia in December. Thinh as the winner of the Vietnam Best Sommelier Competition will make a trip to France to visit vineyards along with other national winners of the Sopexa Trophy. This year, Sopexa, the French agency for international marketing of food, wine and lifestyle, re-launched the Sopexa trophy to find the best sommelier in French wines throughout most of Asia, including South Korea, Southeast Asia and Taiwan. This global contest was created in 1986 to help train sommeliers in a very specific way on French oenology. Nguyen Tien Thinh, born in 1978, is a sommelier and training director of wine distributor Da Loc Co., Ltd. He graduated from Hanoi University of Foreign Studies and can speak English, French, Cantonese, Vietnamese (mother tongue), basic Spanish, and Mandarin. Previously, Thinh worked at the Sofitel Plaza Hanoi Hotel and Galaxy Macau Hotel. Nguyen Thi Ngoc Phin, born in 1991, is a bartender at Hotel Equatorial HCMC in District 5. She studied at Khoi Viet Tourism and Hospitality training school, majoring in restaurant and hotel. HCM City’s flood control reservoir construction delayed The HCMC government has long planned to build a number of reservoirs to control floods in the city but the first reservoir of its kind would not get off the ground until the second quarter of next year as planned. The HCMC Steering Center of the Urban Flood Control Program (SCFC) reported at a meeting of the HCMC People’s Council on Monday that sites in Bau Cat in Tan Binh District, Go Dua in Thu Duc District and Khanh Hoi in District 4 had been chosen for such reservoirs. The center proposed starting a pilot plan to build Bau Cat reservoir with a capacity of 10,000 cubic meters in quarter two of 2016 before constructing others. The underground reservoir is designed to control floods in an area of ​​20 hectares and costs nearly VND100 billion (US$4.44 million) funded by the city’s budget.     Meanwhile, the 23-hectare Go Dua reservoir is still in the process of making a feasibility study and Khanh Hoi reservoir covering nearly five hectares is facing site clearance problems. Nguyen Hoang Anh Dung, deputy director of the center, told the Daily after the meeting that the major challenges for building such reservoirs are the limited cleared land in the city and the selection of low locations for rainwater to flow in from roads and drainage systems. Vietnam has not had technical standards for construction of such reservoirs. Due to the obstacles, Dung said the center may not break ground for the Bau Cat reservoir as scheduled. Some deputies of the city’s council suggested rescheduling the construction period of Bau Cat reservoir since flooding in the area has eased after the upgrade of Tan Hoa-Lo Gom Canal going through the Bau Cat area was completed. According to experts, flood control reservoirs can hold millions of cubic meters of rainwater, thus helping reduce flooding in HCMC by 30%. The municipal government has plans to do away with flooding on 100 square kilometers of the inner-city area by the end of 2015. In addition to flood control reservoirs, the city plans to upgrade and widen a number of existing lakes in districts 2, 7, 12, Thu Duc, Binh Chanh and Go Vap as one of the measures to absorb floodwater.  VNA/VNS/VOV/SGT/SGGP/TT/TN/Dantri