The market was severely damaged after the storm, many small traders in Nghe An have not been able to resume business.

Vinh Railway Station Market is the second largest market in the old Vinh City, and also the most severely damaged market in Nghe An Province after Storm No. 5. According to reporters from Nghe An Newspaper, Radio and Television, the entire food stalls in the market collapsed, brick walls were broken, corrugated iron roofs and iron frames were broken into piles. The once bustling area is now left with only desolation and ruins.

Not only the food court area, many surrounding kiosks had to close due to concerns about the risk of further collapse. As of September 8, workers had not yet finished cleaning up the scene. Meanwhile, more than 20 small businesses selling food, vegetables, and soft drinks were forced to close for a long time, with nowhere else to make a living.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Dao, a vendor at the food court at Vinh Railway Station market, choked up: “We have been doing business here for decades, considering our stalls as our second home. But now, seeing the market in ruins and the shops in ruins, everyone feels heavy-hearted. No place to sell means no income, we don’t know how we will manage.”

As for Ms. Truong Thi Thu Huong, her banh muot stall had to ask to be located on a corner of the street in the market to continue her work. She sighed, sitting here selling temporarily is extremely inconvenient, and affects people passing by. But what can we do, we have no other job besides this business. Every day we try our best to just cover our daily living expenses, and taking care of our children's education is really difficult."

A representative of the Vinh Railway Station Market Management Board said that after the food stall collapsed, the unit reported to the ward and hired workers to clean up, but the workload was too great and it was expected that the cleanup would be completed by September 15.

Mr. Dinh Nho Tai - Vice Chairman of Thanh Vinh Ward People's Committee said: "Vinh Ga Market is a facility that suffered heavy damage after storm No. 5. In parallel with mobilizing forces to clean up the scene, we have sent a document asking for opinions and requesting the province to support funding to rebuild the market hall, and soon stabilize business for small traders".

It is known that Vinh Railway Station Market started construction in 1993 and was put into use in 1994, with a scale of nearly 9,000m², more than 1,600 stalls. Once a bustling trading point of the old Vinh city, but in recent years, the infrastructure has deteriorated, the number of customers has been sparse, and the life of small traders has not been very favorable. The recent storm No. 5 has made those difficulties even more complicated.

Not only Vinh Ga market, Hung Dung market, Truong Vinh ward also fell into a similar situation. The two main communal house and food stall areas had many kiosks with their roofs blown off, and the ventilation system was severely damaged. Statistics show that 16 small businesses were directly affected, most of them selling food, meat, fruit and beauty service stalls.

Ms. Chu Thi Ha, a business owner here, said: “After the storm passed, we had to pay out of our own pocket to hire workers to repair it, each household spent about 10 million VND, both to clean up and to temporarily support it. But that was only a temporary solution, because in fact the foundation was rotten and could collapse at any time. In fact, some other small businesses did not dare to reopen due to fear of danger…”.

Mr. Pham Thanh Hai - Deputy Head of Hung Dung Market Management Team said: "The market was built a long time ago, many items are degraded and damaged. The recent storm was too strong, although the people and the management board proactively reinforced it, it could not avoid heavy damage. For now, households have to spend their own money to make temporary repairs to maintain their business, but for fundamental repairs, we have to wait for support from the ward and the province."

Even Vinh market, the largest market in Nghe An, could not avoid damage after the storm. The main temple's corrugated iron roof was blown off, and rainwater poured down, soaking and damaging goods. Although the management board quickly repaired the damage, many traders still expressed concern because the market structure had deteriorated, and many goods had to be covered with tarpaulins because of the continuous dripping of water.

Currently, Nghe An province has about 370 traditional markets, most of which were built a long time ago, have not been renovated, and are now seriously degraded. Every rainy and stormy season, the risk of insecurity always lurks at these traditional markets./.