A close look at the hardships of earning a living underground.
(Baonghean.vn) - Among the many ways to earn a living, well digging is considered one of the most arduous, difficult, dangerous, and risky occupations.
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| Previously, in rural areas, every household dug a well for daily water use, resulting in a large workforce of well diggers. Nowadays, people mainly use tap water or drilled wells, reducing the need for well digging, so the number of well diggers is also decreasing. They usually work in groups of at least three people (one digging, one operating the pulley, and one filling the well with soil). (In the photo: A group of well diggers in Hung Tien commune, Nam Dan district.) |
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| The hot, dry summer months are when well diggers are most active. Their tools include hoes, crowbars, and a hand-cranked pulley system mounted on a temporary wooden frame. (In the photo: The pulley system is positioned over the well's mouth.) |
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| In the past, when the well had gone deep underground, people used a leafy branch to pull it up and continuously lower it down to ventilate it; nowadays, workers often tie an electric fan to a pulley system at the well's mouth and blow air down into the well, providing both ventilation and cooling. |
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| Well diggers are mostly strong, courageous people who are not afraid of danger. In a group of diggers, if there are two people who know how to dig, they can take turns. |
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| According to Mr. Nguyen Xuan Khoa (45 years old) - a well digger in Xuan Lam commune, Nam Dan district: Digging wells in hilly areas is difficult but relatively safe, without the risk of the well collapsing. Digging in plains, where the soil is soft and easy, is quite dangerous, especially in areas along rivers. In areas prone to subsidence, the team of diggers has to dig and lower the well casing simultaneously. Until completion, the diggers have to turn around inside the narrow well casing to continue working, which is an extremely arduous and dangerous task. |
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| If the workers only use rudimentary tools like crowbars and hoes, the work is very arduous, especially in areas with dry, hard soil, full of pebbles, rocks, or boulders. If the team of workers has a drilling machine, digging a well is less strenuous and faster. However, drilling through the rock at the bottom of the well is not easy. The well-digging contract is only complete when: "we keep digging until we find water." |
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| According to Mr. Nguyen Van Thang, a long-time well digger in Thanh Khe commune, Thanh Chuong district: When working in a well, usually only one main worker handles everything, drilling, digging, shoveling soil, carrying stones, etc. The main worker has a very hard job because they have to work very hard and face many dangers lurking inside and above the well. |
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| The two men at the mouth of the well had to work while also keeping a close eye on the main worker at the bottom, coordinating their efforts to activate the pulley system to pull up the soil, return the buckets and containers, and promptly handle any incidents. |
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| On rainy days, or when encountering strong springs, digging wells becomes difficult, and those at the bottom have to both dig and scoop water. Nguyen Xuan Khoa added: His group dug a well in a hilly area with a diameter of about 1.4 meters, but they could only dig about 0.8 meters deeper each day. The current price per meter of depth ranges from 800,000 to 1,000,000 VND. |
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| According to experienced well diggers, excavated soil and rocks must be dumped far from the well opening, especially in wells undergoing re-examination, to prevent water seepage and subsidence around the well, which could cause the well to collapse, as has happened in some places. Well diggers also believe that if creatures like toads or frogs accidentally jump into the well, they can be "saved" by putting them in buckets or containers and bringing them to the surface. |
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| Mr. Phan Van Su (42 years old) from Thanh Tung commune, Thanh Chuong district - who returned from the "clutches of death" after a well collapse in Thanh Ha commune (May 2019) - said: "The job of digging wells is hard, difficult, and fraught with risks and accidents, such as injuries (from falling buckets, soil, and rocks); electric shock; suffocation from toxic gases, and the most dangerous is the well collapse. However, because of the need to make a living, and having no other profession, I have to follow this job of digging wells." In the photo: At the end of a hard day's well digging, the worker climbs up to the surface using a winch. |
| Video: The hardships of well digging |
