More than 100 people, including a Catholic religious sister, are still listed as missing after Typhoon Yagi, the most powerful storm to hit Asia this year, left at least 233 dead in northern Vietnam.
Sister Maria Nguyen Thi Bich Hang from the Lovers of the Holy Cross congregation is believed by her family to have been killed in the storm.
On 9 September, heavy rain collapsed the Phong Chau Bridge over the Red River in Phu Tho province and eight people, including 35-year-old Sister Maria Nguyen, were washed away.
With winds of up to 92 mph, Typhoon Yagi, the most powerful typhoon to hit Asia in 2024, wreaked havoc in northern Vietnam 7-11 September. Besides the death toll, the subsequent landslides and floods also left 807 people injured and 103 missing, according to government figures.
In a 12 September telegram signed by Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican’s Secretary of State, the pope said he was “deeply saddened” to learn of the destruction wrought by Typhoon Yagi, offering his “spiritual solidarity to the injured and to all those suffering the continuing effects of this disaster.”
The church and the government agencies have provided aid to victims of the storm that hit 20 out of Vietnam’s 25 northern provinces. In the Hung Hoa Diocese in Phu Tho province, Caritas workers were distributing instant noodles, milk, rice and clean water to flood victims.