The Hanoi Red Cross has piloted a model of free shelter for street workers at 548 Tran Cung street and 527 Pham Van Dong street (Bac Tu Liem district), local media reported.In the days of intense heat, outdoor workers can take shelter at the premises, located in a densely-populated area, where they could use cold towels, drink water and take a nap in the air-conditioned room.
A free heat shelter for workers at Tran Cung street, Hanoi. Photo: Tat Dinh.
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The project is organized by the Vietnam Red Cross and funded by the German Red Cross.
According to Nguyen Thi Thu Ha, head of Disaster Management Department under the Vietnam Red Cross, summer temperature in Hanoi keeps increasing over the years, affecting urban people’s health, especially outdoor workers.
"We hope that they will have a cooler rest at noon to recover their health for afternoon work," Ha said, adding that after a week of piloting, the premises have sheltered more than 500 people.
The Hanoi Red Cross is surveying to build another 13 free shelters in the city, Ha noted.
The Vietnam Red Cross is also designing a model to help outdoor workers avoiding scorching heat with mobile buses in crowded areas. The organization is also dispatching volunteers to workers’ dorms to paint them with cold color palettes and roof them with canvas to cool the heat.
The project started on July 20 and will run until mid-September 2019. After that, the Vietnam Red Cross will evaluate the outcomes to replicate the model in other cities in the central region of Vietnam such as Thanh Hoa, Vinh (Nghe An province), Ha Tinh and Da Nang.
From the beginning of this year’s summer, northern and northern central provinces of Vietnam have continuously experienced prolonged heat waves, with temperature topping 40 degrees Celsius. According to the National Center for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting, the average temperature in 2019 across the country is 0.5-1 degrees Celsius higher than that of the previous years.
