PM opens campaign for Japan

Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has called for a campaign to mobilise funds to support Japanese earthquake and tsunami victims.

The Viet Nam Red Cross (VRC) was entrusted to organise the month-long campaign, which started on Wednesday.

The VRC received US$10,000 yesterday from the Viet Nam Post and Telecommunications Group and the Viet Nam National Union of Post and Telecom Workers.

The Viet Nam National Oil and Gas Group yesterday handed $100,000 to the Japanese Embassy in Ha Noi to support Japanese quake and tsunami victims.

The VRC will send $50,000 in aid to the country.

A working mission from the Vietnamese Embassy in Japan yesterday arrived in Sendai in Miyagi City, one of nine localities hit by the earthquake and tsunami, to help Vietnamese citizens relocate.

The mission relocated 42 people to Tokyo.

Another mission arrived in Morioka in Iwate Province to help Vietnamese to relocate. They were scheduled to return to Tokyo at 9pm yesterday with 23 Vietnamese people.

The third mission relocated 18 Vietnamese citizens from Fukushima Province.

Lessons to learn

Explosions at reactors at Japans Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant will provide Viet Nam with several lessons, Deputy Minister of Science and Technology Le Dinh Tien said in a press meeting about the construction of a nuclear plant yesterday.

Tien said Viet Nam would build explosion response centres at the local and central levels and radiation measurement and incident forecasting centres. Officials will also create a legal framework providing guidance on how to cope with such incidents.

Vuong Huu Tan, chairman of the Viet Nam Atomic Energy Commission said they would select locations for future facilities, train staff and build legal frameworks related to the plants operation.

He said that Japans Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant was built in the 70s and 80s with inept safety features. Tan said Viet Nam would use advanced technology that would be capable of resisting environmental disasters.

Responding to peoples concerns over the incident in Japan, a working teamVNS including managers and scientists was created to keep a close eye on the events in Japan and will talk with international and local experts to provide timely information to people.

(Source: VNS)