"They lost everything. That's why they really want to go back to Vietnam," Truong told The Associated Press in a recent interview.
The rest decided to stay with Vietnamese relatives or their Filipino families in Philippine cities that were not battered by the typhoon.
Despite downed telephone lines and fully booked flights and ferries, two Vietnamese diplomats, including Hoang, managed to travel to Ormoc city in Leyte where they ordered their compatriots to gather. Some of the survivors walked the 100 kilometers (60 miles) from Tacloban to Ormoc, where the embassy delivered clothes, medicine and food, Hoang said.
Hoang and another diplomat later traveled to Tacloban to rescue two more Vietnamese families, passing through ruined towns where they saw strewn bodies, flattened villages and shocked residents walking aimlessly.
"We saved everybody on time," Truong said.