There needs to be a plan to evacuate people from landslide areas.
Early in the morning, it was raining heavily, while I was still in a daze, I heard the sound of a tree breaking, I just got out of bed to see what was happening, two rocks as big as half the house rolled down into the bedroom and kitchen. If I had been one minute slower, I would have been crushed to death", Mrs. Pham Thi Nghia said while looking at the rock that crushed her house, she fearfully recounted the moment of the landslide.
One day when the landslide occurred in Rong hamlet, Nghi Thiet commune, the scene here was still extremely miserable, people looked out to sea and were worried because the rocks on the top of the mountain were waiting, could fall down at any time. Mrs. Pham Thi Nghia - Mr. Ho Van Thanh's house was the most severely damaged after the landslide when two rocks weighing dozens of tons rolled straight into the house.
While receiving a cup of hot milk from her neighbor, Mrs. Nghia told the story with sad, tired eyes after a sleepless night. In the past, this was a bare hill with cylindrical rocks as big as half a boat stacked on top. Gradually, people tried to plant eucalyptus and casuarina trees to both retain water and limit landslides. In the 20 years of being a daughter-in-law in Rong hamlet, Mrs. Nghia witnessed landslides and rocks falling from the high mountains almost every rainy season.
A large rock crushed Mr. Thanh's bedroom.
Rocks weighing tens of tons rolled down from the top of the mountain.
Mrs. Nghia's husband, Mr. Ho Van Thanh, works as a hired fisherman for ship owners in the commune. Two days ago, Mr. Thanh went out to sea on a boat, and Mrs. Nghia was home alone because her three children were working in the South. All day and night on September 10, it rained heavily and the wind was strong. Mrs. Nghia was home alone, trying to close the door tightly, using buckets and basins to catch the rainwater in the leaking places, and went to bed.
Near dawn, when she had just fallen asleep, Mrs. Nghia was suddenly startled by the sound of trees behind her house creaking, and the ground seemed to shake with strange noises. As a natural reaction, she rushed out of bed to look up at the mountain when suddenly, two rocks crashed into her house. One rock the size of a rice basket fell into the bedroom, crushing the bed. The second rock fell next to the kitchen, completely shattering the back wall. Many other smaller rocks fell into the house, breaking tiles, cracking walls, and destroying many items such as tables, chairs, and beds. On the way down to the houses, the rocks also managed to break eucalyptus and casuarina trees as big as thighs, creating a path more than 2 meters wide. "If I had been sleeping soundly at that time, I would have been completely under the rock," Mrs. Nghia recalled fearfully.
The rocks caused cracks in houses and sections of walls were punctured.
A year ago, Mrs. Pho's house was hit by a landslide, and this time, a corner of the house also completely collapsed.
Next to Mr. Ho Van Thanh's house is the house of Mrs. Nguyen Thi Pho, his sister-in-law. Her husband passed away 24 years ago, Mrs. Pho alone raised 4 children. When the children went to school, she also went to Hanoi to work as a maid to make a living because she did not know how to do anything else at home. In 2012, her dilapidated house was also hit by falling rocks and completely collapsed, so she borrowed money to repair it. Recently, Mrs. Pho continued to go to Hanoi to work for hire to earn money to pay off her debt. When she heard that her house was hit by falling rocks, she hurriedly took a bus home. On the morning of September 12, when she returned home, Mrs. Pho covered her face and cried when she saw a large rock flying straight into the house, crushing all the furniture.
Household items such as pots, pans, tables and chairs were completely broken.
In the early morning of September 11, 4 rocks from the top of Dragon Mountain rolled down to the houses of people, three large rocks fell on the houses of Mr. Thanh and Mrs. Pho, the remaining rock fell on the house of Mr. Nguyen Van Nong. Currently, all 4 rocks are still lying in place, people have no way to get them out.
Arriving at Dragon Mountain on the morning of September 12, it was raining heavily, we realized that the danger of landslides was always present here. In addition to the 4 rocks that had just rolled down, there were many other rocks stacked on top, ready to fall down at any moment. The ground on the mountain's surface was quite weak, heavy rain caused the soil to soften and erode, making the rocks lose grip, so it was very possible that this mountain would continue to collapse.
Faced with that danger, on September 11, Nghi Loc district authorities directed Nghi Thiet commune to evacuate 15 households in the dangerous area, strictly prohibiting them from staying in their homes at night for fear of falling rocks causing death.
Many rocks on the top of the mountain have been eroded by rain and could roll down at any time.
Leading us around the mountain, Mr. Ho Van Thanh worriedly said that it was not until now that his family knew the dangers of living under this mountain, but because they did not know where to live, they had to accept to stay. “In the countryside, the house and land area is only a few dozen square meters, without a garden, we also feel very miserable but do not know what to do. For now, we just hope that local authorities at all levels will take measures to help, find ways to clean up and move the rocks out, if possible, create conditions for households like us to move to another place to live,” Mr. Thanh sighed.
On September 12, many people in and outside the village came to encourage and visit the families of those affected by the landslide.
Nghi Thiet Commune People's Committee said that currently there is heavy rain, and it is not possible to deploy people to clean up the landslide scene because of the fear that the rocks above will roll down at any time. When the rain stops, the commune government will mobilize agencies and organizations to help people find a way to remove the rocks, so that life can soon stabilize again.
Nghi Thiet is a coastal commune, on the eastern edge of the commune there is a mountain peak that protrudes deep into the sea like a dragon's head, so since ancient times people have named this place Dragon Mountain, the residential area at the foot of the mountain is also called Dragon Hamlet with more than 130 households living by fishing. Not only is it always dangerous during the rainy season, but every time there is a storm, the entire Dragon Hamlet is submerged in water. Every year, the people here have to brace themselves to avoid direct storms and waves several meters high. Many years ago, in this area there were many landslides, rocks and soil flowing down to people's houses... |
Nguyen Khoa
