Around 3,000 people joined a walk in the central city of Danang this morning, August 5, to commemorate 55 years of Agent Orange Dioxin disaster in Vietnam.

Participants, young and old, come from many professions including students, workers and the military.

Deputy Secretary of the municipal Party Committee Vo Cong Tri and Vice Chairman of the city people's committee, Ho Ky Minh, were among some officials at the event.

Speaking at a meeting held before the walk, Nguyen Thi Hien, Chairwoman of the Danang Association for victims of Agent Orange said that they are providing regular support for over 5,000 AO victims and raising 150 dioxin-infected children at three care centres. Hien also expressed thanks to many individuals and organisations who have been donating to their programmes over the past 10 years.

"This is a special occasion for us to look back at our activities over the past ten years," Hien said. "We now have 2,946 members including 60 foreign members. And we have raised nearly VND100 billion in donations over that time."

 

Gifts and wheelchairs were given to AO/Dioxin victims at the event.

From August 10, 1961, US forces sprayed over 80 million litres of toxic chemicals throughout parts of Vietnam, including AO. Around 4.8 million people were exposed to AO/Dioxin, 3 million of whom are victims.