Lessons after the flood
(Baonghean) - The consecutive major floods in June and July 2011 left extremely serious consequences for the poor mountainous district of Ky Son. Floods piled on floods, poverty piled on poverty. Nearly a year has passed, but the consequences of the floods are still there, and it is truly a lesson in flood prevention for this mountainous district...
(Baonghean) - The consecutive major floods in June and July 2011 left extremely serious consequences for the poor mountainous district of Ky Son. Floods piled on floods, poverty piled on poverty. Nearly a year has passed, but the consequences of the floods are still there, and it is truly a lesson in flood prevention for this mountainous district...
We visited the family of Mr. Vi Van Tung, in Cau Tam village, Ta Ca commune. Currently, his family of 10 people are living in a temporary house, less than 15 square meters. The historic flood in June 2011 submerged his family's house and land. The land on which his family built the house is also temporarily borrowed from the village's Cultural House. The house is cramped, with nothing of value except 3 beds. His 2 eldest daughters, because they have no place to stay, have to sleep with someone else. In just a moment, the family's lifelong efforts were submerged in the flood...
The flood in June 2011 had a huge destructive power in the mountainous district of Ky Son. With the characteristic steep mountainous terrain, floods in mountainous areas like Ky Son are often flash floods, water rises quickly, flows rapidly, and has great destructive power. Flash floods often lead to very dangerous landslides.
During the flood, although the authorities at all levels mobilized all forces to help the people, due to the lack of rescue equipment and the lack of experience of the people, the response work still encountered many obstacles. When the flood peaked, the means of transportation and communication were cut off, making command even more difficult. Lacking manpower and equipment, people "took care of themselves" in their own way.
After the great losses, people began to think more about the causes of floods: cutting down protective forests in the headwaters, mining gold, encroaching on rivers to build roads, causing changes in the flow of water... However, there is another cause that cannot be ignored. That is the subjective mentality and low capacity of people to respond to storms and floods. Living in mountainous districts with the risk of flash floods, people are confused when the flood comes. Although there have been warnings in advance, many households still linger and do not proactively evacuate, the water is up to the floor of the house but still subjectively think that the water will not rise further. That has raised the issue of improving the ability of people to adapt to flood prevention. Because in fact, for a long time in Ky Son, there has not been any flood prevention project implemented systematically, the government and people have rarely practiced in similar situations.
The People's Committee of Ky Son district has taken more active and drastic measures to prevent illegal deforestation and gold mining. The river embankment project running along the town has also been implemented to ensure long-term safety. Ky Son has started to find a new safe location to relocate households along the river, in flood-affected areas. Before this year's flood season, authorities at all levels have come up with a plan: to proactively grasp weather information to promptly direct flood and storm prevention work; continue to promote propaganda among the people about plans to prevent and mitigate natural disasters, floods and storms, and completely overcome subjectivity.
Currently, Ky Son has been making efforts to overcome the consequences of the historic flood in 2011, by quickly rebuilding infrastructure works to serve people's lives, supporting people's production and daily life. However, if the problem of natural disaster prevention is not solved soon, overcoming the consequences of storms and floods will be like building a sand house in front of the waves.
Phan Tam