The Quiet Resettlement

When tens of thousands of refugees from Southeast Asia poured into hastily prepared camps in the U.S. last spring, many Americans were deeply troubled. Would the refugees aggravate the bloated unemployment rate? Did they carry exotic diseases? How could they possibly fit in? Last week the 100,000th Indochinese refugee was quietly relocated--and the nation hardly noticed. Officially, at least, he was Pham Phu Quoc, 38, a former South Vietnamese army officer who was settled near Racine, Wis., last week with his wife and their eight children.

The resettlement headaches are still far from over. About 33,000 refugees remain in camps on the U.S. mainland. Some, along with 1,500 on Guam, insist on being returned to their homeland. Others are reluctant to be relocated in areas that do not have a Viet Nam-like climate. All the same, the Government's interagency task force on Indochina refugees pledges that all will be in their new homes by Dec. 31, and that meanwhile none will suffer from the fast approaching cold weather. At Indiantown Gap, Pa., one of the three remaining camps in the U.S., the Army is installing heating systems in the barracks and other buildings and is gathering winter clothing. There is also an educational program under way--to explain the phenomenon of winter to people who have never experienced it.

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