Due to prolonged heavy rain, in the early afternoon of September 22, a mass of soil and rock on the positive slope behind the dormitory of Trung Ly Ethnic Boarding Secondary School (Muong Lat, Thanh Hoa) collapsed, damaging many student rooms.
Immediately afterwards, local authorities urgently evacuated students and transported their personal belongings to a temporary residence in the school's two-story classroom building.
Mr. Nguyen Duy Thuy - Principal of Trung Ly Secondary School for Ethnic Minorities said that currently, the school is allowing students to take a day off to fix the problem.
“Because the students’ dining and living areas are damaged, they cannot return to school yet. Currently, the district and commune People’s Committees are meeting to plan the earliest way for students to return to school,” said Mr. Thuy.
According to Mr. Thuy, the school has 460 students in the dormitory. The day of the incident was the weekend, so some students went home to visit their families, leaving 214 students behind.
Recalling the incident, Mr. Thuy is still in shock. If it weren't for teacher Bui Thi Cham (born in 1991) who quickly called and took the students out before the landslide, who knows what the consequences would have been.
According to Ms. Cham, she was assigned to be on duty that day. After the students had lunch, they all went into their rooms to take a nap.
“At that time, I went with some teachers in the school to check the entire dormitory area. Seeing that everything was fine, I went home (near the school) to cook,” Ms. Cham recalled.
According to Ms. Cham, at around 12:25, after cooking, she and her family set the table to eat. At this time, it was raining heavily, feeling uneasy, she decided to skip the meal, took an umbrella and went to the school to check.
“As soon as I arrived, I saw that the school gate had collapsed. On the hill behind the dormitory, water was flowing down, along with soil. Seeing signs of a landslide, I panicked and ran into the dormitory to call the students to run outside. Since the students were in different rooms, calling them out was ineffective, and time was urgent, so I ran down to the classroom to get a loudspeaker to make an announcement.
When they heard the loudspeaker, they all ran out in panic. I calmed them down and instructed them to quickly run out of the room and move to the classroom area to ensure safety. About 10 minutes later, a large amount of earth and rocks slid down the dormitory area, damaging many rooms. Thinking back to that moment, I still tremble,” Ms. Cham recounted.
Mr. Thuy said that Ms. Cham is from Cam Thuy district (Thanh Hoa), graduated with a degree in geography from Vinh University.
In 2021, her husband went to work in Muong Lat, Ms. Cham followed her husband to Trung Ly commune to live and applied to teach on a contract at Trung Ly Boarding Ethnic Primary and Secondary School.
“In May 2024, Ms. Cham signed a contract with the People's Committee of Muong Lat district according to Decree 111. Ms. Cham is a teacher who always upholds responsibility for her work, especially in taking care of students in the dormitory. Currently, her family is having to rent a house near the school to live and work,” said Mr. Thuy.
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