Habitat for Humanity Vietnam and the GE Foundation, an independent charitable organisation funded by GE, have announced collaboration to support a post-disaster recovery programme in Quang Ngai Province.

The GE Foundation has donated US$73,000 in aid to the programme.

Binh Thanh 2 and Binh Nguyen primary schools in Binh Son District, one of the hardest-hit areas by the historic floods and landslides in 2020, will benefit from funding for renovated and rebuilt facilities.

Over the past four months, Habitat for Humanity Vietnam and GE Foundation renovated 10 existing classrooms, installed better electricity systems, and built new and accessible latrines for school children.

The funding will provide better learning facilities for nearly 900 children and teachers at both schools.

Bells Regino-Borja, national director of Habitat for Humanity Vietnam, said: "We believe good-quality school infrastructure is a crucial factor for students’ academic performance.

“Additionally, making schools ready to serve future needs of community evacuation will help with community preparedness. Habitat Vietnam is thankful to the GE Foundation for its financial support in the disaster recovery effort in central Vietnam.”

David Barash, executive director, GE Foundation, said “At GE, we draw on our people, technology and local partners to reduce suffering and hasten recovery caused by natural disasters. Thanks to support from Habitat for Humanity Vietnam, we hope the renovation will help students get back to the classroom quickly and make these schools more resilient well into the future.”

After the 2020 flooding and landslides, Quang Ngai was one of the worst-affected provinces with over 140,000 damaged houses, 450 unroofed schools, and nearly 1,000 hectares of submerged crops, which cost a loss of over VND4 billion. — VNS