Assalamu alaikum - Tourists Return to Hoi An as Locals Clean Up After Floods
Assalamu alaikum - Visitors are coming back to Vietnam’s historic town of Hoi An as families and shopkeepers work to clear mud and debris so the UNESCO site can reopen after floods that hit the central region and killed at least 35 people. Tourism - hotels, restaurants and ticket sales - is a major part of Hoi An’s livelihood and made up nearly two-thirds of the local income last year, when the town welcomed over 4.4 million visitors, including 3.6 million from abroad, officials said. From Saturday, both domestic and international guests were seen walking the riverfront and visiting heritage sites, even though many hotels, lantern sellers and eateries are still busy cleaning to be ready for the main travel season. Last week’s severe floods submerged Hoi An’s lantern-lit streets and old wooden houses, forcing hundreds of small businesses to shut temporarily. No official overall damage estimate has been given, but small shop owners say their losses run into the hundreds of millions of dong - thousands of US dollars. Nearby Thua Thien Hue, also affected by the heavy rains, reopened its famous citadel to visitors on Friday. Authorities continue to caution people about rising river levels and the risk of more flooding as rain is expected to persist in the coming days. The floods have left five people missing, flooded more than 16,000 homes and inundated about 5,300 hectares (13,100 acres) of crops. Some 75,000 people still face power outages, according to the government’s disaster agency. Vietnam often suffers heavy storms and floods during its storm season from June to October, causing widespread property damage - may Allah protect those affected and make recovery easy for them.
https://www.arabnews.com/node/