Viet Nam: Joint action bringing hope for at-risk families

Viet Nam faced one of its worst typhoon seasons in decades: over 4 million people affected and $4.2 billion in damages. Fifteen typhoons between May and October 2025 brought relentless rains, floods, and landslides across the country triggering extensive humanitarian needs and widespread damage to housing, infrastructure, and livelihoods. Economic losses are estimated at roughly 1% of GDP, highlighting vulnerability to climate shocks.

To protect Viet Nam’s development gains from climate shocks, the Disaster Risk Reduction Partnership, co-chaired by the Government and the UN RC, mobilized $96.2m to assist people most in need.

In Tuyen Quang province, Muong, a 39-year-old Nung ethnic woman and mother of three, sits in her stilt house with a roof torn apart by the storms. Living with her elderly mother and a husband with a disability, Muong is both the main caregiver and breadwinner. “The floodwaters surrounded our house for three days,” she recalled. “We were isolated, and I tried to keep breastfeeding, but I didn’t have enough food.” 

Diagnosed with moderate acute malnutrition, her children received ready-to-use therapeutic food (RUTF) supported by UN and government partners - helping her recover and grow healthy again. “I’m so happy that my children can get treatment for malnutrition,” she said. 

Through a Joint Response Plan, the UN and the Government of Viet Nam scaled up multisectoral coordination and response in water and sanitation, health and nutrition, education, shelter, food security and livelihoods, and protection. 

In Thai Nguyen, many people have lost nearly all their possessions. “The recent floods swept away the entire roof; our house was buried, and I only had enough time to evacuate,” shared Yen, “When I returned, the whole flock of chickens was gone.”

Under the joint response, and with support from development partners, the UN provided multi-purpose cash assistance to 1,500 households, in Cao Bang, Thai Nguyen, and Lang Son, to enable people most affected to recover, repair and restore homes, local infrastructure and livelihoods.

“I plan to use this cash to buy materials to repair the house and rebuild the chicken coop. Then I’ll start raising chickens again,” Yen said.

In Thai Nguyen province, Say’s home was submerged for 22 consecutive days after the typhoons, destroying the family’s only sanitation facility and putting her two-year-old son at risk. Local health workers, through UN-ECHO efforts, provided Say and her community with Aquatab water treatment tablets, essential supplies and cash assistance for longer-term WASH recovery. “With this support, I can buy pipes to bring clean water from the mountain stream into the new tank,” Say explained with a smile. For families like Say, the assistance was more than material support, it was a lifeline that restored access to essential services and builds their resilience to future shocks.

For families like Muong, Yen, and Say, humanitarian aid was more than immediate relief—it was a lifeline that restored dignity, rebuilt livelihoods, and strengthened resilience against future shocks. 

The UN’s coordinated response, alongside the Government of Viet Nam, turned despair into recovery and hope.