Relief services will be managed by one state agency - the Fatherland Front - and businesses and press agencies will no longer be able to individually distribute aid, according to a recent government decision.

Money to support victims of disasters had previously been sent to large press agencies, but now will be pooled in a relief fund controlled by the Front, said Ha Thi Lien, an officer of the agency.

Vu Trong Kim, general secretary of the agency’s central committee, said the committee will meet Monday to talk about creating relief services departments in different localities.

To support the victims of tropical storm Kammuri in the north, Kim said the Front has campaigned nationwide to raise funds and local branches of the agency have already launched operations to receive and distribute relief aid to victims, even though specific relief departments have yet to be formed.

“The Front won’t distribute aid directly to victims but will transfer the money to provincial administrations, which then will dispense the funds to district and communal authorities,” Lien said.

It will take at most 15 days for the aid to reach designated recipients.

The agency will transfer aid to its local branches by issuing money transfer notes to expedite the process.

It is necessary for the funds to be transferred through intermediate stages because, according to Lien, “commune authorities are most knowledgeable about the damage that local residents suffer.”

There were times victims had to wait for up to six months before receiving aid because funds had been sent to different agencies, some of which didn’t know how to distribute money fairly, according to Lien.

The Front will use the media to inform the public about aid distribution in different localities as well as send officers to inspect the relief services in the areas as a follow-up.

As relief funds will be centralized under the management of one agency, the Front can allocate portions of aid for long-term disaster support such as building hospitals, schools and other infrastructure for local victims, Lien said.

Do Viet Duc, manager of the Ministry of Finance’s State Budget Department, said according to the new mandate on managing relief aid, any agencies mobilizing aid will first have to get permission from local Front branches - except press agencies and charity funds.

Additionally, relief departments will have to allot funds to specific victims if donors specify such stipulations.

Duc said the Ministry of Finance will cooperate with the Fatherland Front to closely monitor how relief money is used.