Vietnam's gov't to support 263,000 labors impacted by environmental incident

It is estimated that some 263,000 labors who have been impacted by the recent environmental incident in central Vietnam will get supports by the government, according to Vietnam's Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs (MOLISA) on Tuesday.

Doan Mau Diep, Deputy Minister of MOLISA told media on Tuesday that some 100,000 labors were directly impacted by mass fish death that occurred in four central provinces of Vietnam since early April.

Some 163,000 other labors were indirectly affected by the incident, according to the ministry's website. The ministry will submit to the government support plans for the affected labors, including employment, vocational training, and labor exports.

Earlier last Thursday, Vietnam announced that Formosa Ha Tinh Steel Corporation (FHS) has caused mass fish deaths in central coastal Vietnam and the company has committed to compensate some 500 million U.S. dollars to handle the consequences of the incident.

The incident happened during FHS's trial operation when waste water with toxics exceeding allowed level were discharged from FHS into the sea.

According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, the mass fish deaths in central coastal localities have caused difficulties to the production and lives of local farmers.

Exploitation output of fisheries in the localities has decreased. In the first six months of 2016, fishery exploitation output in Ha Tinh province stood at some 16,000 tons (down 6 percent year-on-year), Quang Binh 24,000 tons (down 10 percent), Quang Tri 9,000 tons (down 12 percent), and Thua Thien-Hue 13,300 tons (down 30 percent). Endit