Proactively raise assets
Every time the rainy season approaches, the whole family of Mr. Ho Xuan Thanh, Hamlet 7, Chau Nhan Commune (Hung Nguyen) is busy with the work of raising assets and food to prevent floods. With a metal barrel raised about 1.5 meters above the ground, Mr. Thanh, his wife and children carry rice into the barrel to ensure it is always dry and avoid mold if the water rises in the future. On the lid of the barrel, bags of corn, peanuts, and some belongings are also used to raise them, at a safe distance.
Mr. Thanh said: My house is in the old Hung Nhan commune, an area located completely outside the Ta Lam dike, only a few hundred meters from the Lam River, so every year until now, it has been flooded during the rainy and stormy season. In the light cases, the water reaches the yard up to the knees, in the severe cases like 2002, 2010, 2019... it reaches half the house. This year in particular, hearing the forecast that the flood situation is expected to be more complicated, not only my house but also all the households have prepared prevention plans early...
Not far away, Mr. Ho Van Trung's family was also busy stacking dry straw on the mezzanine to store for buffaloes and cows. This mezzanine is about 3 meters above the ground, with stairs leading up to the side of the house. The mezzanine is divided into 2 rooms. One room is used to bring buffaloes, cows, chickens, pigs, etc. up high during floods, the other room is filled with dry straw, corn, rice, etc. as food for livestock and poultry, ensuring temporary shelter in the mezzanine for about a week if floods come.
Mr. Au Duong Hoa - Secretary of the Party Cell of Hamlet 7, Chau Nhan Commune said: The hamlet is located completely outside the dike, so every rainy and stormy season, more than 250 households here proactively raise their assets, especially food, documents, electrical equipment, livestock, etc.
“In the past, every rainy and stormy season, every household had to bring their livestock to Ta Lam dike. In recent years, people have been supported to build huts, self-rescue dunes, mezzanines, etc., so most people leave their livestock at home, as long as they can bring them up high to ensure safety. Bringing them up to the dike like before always required staying up all night to keep watch, and there were times when the livestock of different families were mixed together in a very messy way…”, Mr. Hoa recalled.
Hoa Lam residential group, Thuan Hoa hamlet, Hung Hoa commune, Vinh city is also an area located completely outside the dike, adjacent to Lam river. This place is always flooded every year during the rainy and stormy season. It is worth mentioning that the project to urgently relocate and resettle people in the flooded area outside the dike of Hung Hoa commune has been implemented for a long time, but until now, due to many difficulties, it has not been completed. Therefore, in the days approaching the rainy and stormy season, instead of moving to a new safe place, Hoa Lam people continue to find ways to cope with flooding in their current place.
Visiting households in the Hoa Lam residential area, we noted that many houses had in common the peeling, damp, and crumbling walls... the consequences of being submerged in water every year. Because they did not know when they would be able to leave, people did not repair much. Notably, all items, clothes, and blankets were placed high up, with some hanging. Other appliances such as refrigerators, washing machines, etc. were placed on 3-4 bricks at the feet, about 30-40 cm above the ground.
Mr. Nguyen Van Son, a resident of Hoa Lam, said: “We are in the category of people who are forced to evacuate urgently, but we have not been able to do so for the past ten years, so we have to find a way to adapt to get through the storm season. All the furniture and belongings of the households have been moved to higher ground. If the water level rises again, the only way left is to run to the shore…”
Ready 4 on site
It is expected that this year's storm season will be unpredictable, therefore, not only the people but also the local authorities in high-risk areas have prepared 4 on-site plans for prevention including: On-site command; on-site forces; on-site means; on-site logistics.
At this time, the house of Ms. Hoang Thi Thuyet - the village chief of Thuan Hoa village, Hung Hoa commune is full of life jackets, foam boxes... these are items that are supported in emergency situations when there is a flood, kept at the village chief's house so that when an incident occurs, they can be quickly brought out.
Ms. Thuyet said: Most people in the village live on fishing, so everyone has proactively built boats, both to earn a living and as a means of survival during the rainy season. Although we have experience with water, we cannot be subjective when it comes to natural disasters because each year is different. We regularly advise and propagate people to monitor weather information to proactively prepare response plans, raise assets, and be ready to evacuate in case of emergency.
“In reality, these are temporary solutions. Currently, the biggest wish of the 82 households in the old Hoa Lam hamlet is for the relevant authorities to speed up the procedures to hand over the resettlement area to the people as soon as possible. We cannot let the project be delayed for a decade while every year the people live in fear of the rainy and stormy season…”, Ms. Thuyet emphasized.
Not only the people's awareness, but also the proactive response to the storm season is also given special attention by local authorities at this time. According to statistics from Chau Nhan commune, Hung Nguyen district, the storm season in 2022, especially the circulation of storm No. 4, caused more than 1,000 households living outside the dike in hamlets 7, 8, 9 and Phu Xuan hamlet to be heavily flooded and completely isolated. In addition, 21.7 km of roads, 4 hamlet cultural houses, 3 schools, 1 medical station were deeply flooded, the flood also damaged some essential infrastructure, and internal roads and bridges were severely eroded.
Therefore, this year, the locality has proactively responded to natural disasters earlier. Regarding on-site equipment, the commune has equipped 3 motorboats, including 1 large boat, 10 boats, and hundreds of life jackets ready for rescue in case of isolation. The commune has also established subcommittees to arrange personnel in readiness such as evacuation subcommittee, propaganda subcommittee, logistics subcommittee, search and rescue subcommittee, and damage recovery subcommittee.
Mr. Le Khanh Quang - Chairman of Chau Nhan Commune People's Committee said: The commune has also planned to respond to natural disasters according to each alarm level. If alarm level 1, the commune will focus on evacuating priority people such as the elderly, children, pregnant women, single people, especially families with preferential policies. At alarm level 2, the force and hamlets will be directed to protect assets, arrange available forces to transport livestock and poultry out of the flood area, and people will be ready to evacuate. If the alarm level is at level 3, the entire political system, rescue teams of the commune will be mobilized to bring people outside the dike to safety at the community flood shelter, Pham Hong Thai Primary School and hamlets inside the dike.
During the rainy and stormy season, the areas outside the Ta Lam dike in communes such as Chau Nhan, Hung Loi, Long Xa, etc. are all weak points and are often flooded. Therefore, the district also directed localities and functional forces to focus on developing response plans in these areas. In particular, focusing on evacuating people from dangerous areas during the rainy and stormy season, implementing flood prevention, ensuring absolute safety of houses, commune People's Committee headquarters, medical stations, schools, power stations, etc. Carrying out repairs and upgrading of weak irrigation works. In particular, when the water level rises, forces will be assigned to monitor, guide and proactively restrict or prohibit people and vehicles from entering dangerous areas due to floods, the highest goal is to minimize damage caused by floods in the area./.
Mr. Hoang Anh Tien - Vice Chairman of Hung Nguyen District People's Committee
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