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 Words in the News
INTRO 
 BBC Correspondent Owen Bennett-Jones reported on how the Vietnamese Red Cross launched a campaign to teach children about the dangers of floods. Nearly 300 children died in flooding of the Mekong river.
IN FULL 
 AudioListen to the report in full
Vietnamese floods

26th October 2000

Flood education in Vietnam

NEWS 1 
 AudioListen to the first part of the report
  The Vietnamese Red Cross says that earlier this month twenty children a day drowned in the floods. In many cases parents had gone looking for food or work, leaving their children unattended. Many of those who have drowned have been under four years old. The Red Cross campaign though will target older children because parents often leave them in charge of younger brothers and sisters. Aid workers have already distributed thousands of life jackets or flotation devices and have urged children who are playing in the flood water to wear them.
  AudioListen to the words
WORDS 
 

unattended - if a child has been left unattended, he or she has been left by him or herself

target - if something is targeted at children then it is focussed and designed especially for them

in charge of - with responsibility for, looking after

distributed - gave to many people

flotation devices - something you wear that helps you not to go under water is a flotation device

urged - encouraged strongly

NEWS 2  AudioListen to the second part of the report
  Children are now being advised to stay away from electricity wires and flooded river banks which could collapse. Red Cross officials say that even children who can swim are at risk as they often move too far away from their families and then encounter difficulties getting back to dry land. The Red Cross campaign follows an appeal from the United Nations Children's Fund, which has warned that when the flood waters do fully recede later this year, children and infants will be at particular risk of contracting diseases such as diarrhoea, cholera and malaria.
  AudioListen to the words
WORDS  

river banks - the sides of a river are called the banks

collapse - fall down

at risk - in danger

encounter difficulties - find something much more difficult than expected

recede - get less

contracting diseases - becoming sick and ill

  Read about the background in BBC News Online
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