The funds were raised by the Vietnamese Government and people to help communities in the damaged areas overcome the consequences of the disaster and strengthen the friendship between the two countries and their people.

Six hundred tornadoes and storms in the US in April this year have killed 310 people in seven southern states. In Alabama, the hardest-hit state, 210 people were killed and another 1,700 injured.

Over the years, the American Red Cross has worked side by side with the Vietnamese Red Cross in supporting the organisation’s charitable activities, especially in a project on school hygiene and nutrition from 2005-2008, HIV/AIDS prevention projects in Hanoi, Hai Phong and Thai Nguyen, and a current project on disaster risk reduction and emergency relief in the central coastal provinces of Vietnam.