Nghe An: Landslide, people stay up all night moving things

The corner of Mrs. Luc's backyard collapsed and sank nearly 2 meters deep. Photo: Hung Cuong

Ms. Nguyen Thi Luc in Minh Tien hamlet, Chau Tien (Quy Chau) recounted absentmindedly: “At around 9:00 p.m. on July 28, I saw the land behind my house (near the river) collapsing. I went out to see that the surrounding fence had cracked more than 10cm. On the morning of July 29, my family reported to the hamlet chief, then the chairman of Chau Tien commune People's Committee and commune officials came to assess the situation.

At around 2:30 p.m. on July 29, a landslide occurred, the surrounding wall collapsed and fell to the riverbank, and a corner of the roof collapsed deep below. At 8 p.m. on July 29, the family was so scared that they asked neighbors to come and help the family move their belongings.

Neighbors helped Mrs. Luc's family dismantle and move the corrugated iron roof. Photo: Hung Cuong

According to our observations, we saw that the bamboo bushes that act as wave barriers behind Mrs. Luc's house and neighboring households had sunk and pulled away, close to the river's edge. Cracks appeared on the house walls after the landslide on the afternoon of July 29, and a lot of soil was washed away.

Landslides in mountainous areas are often unpredictable during the rainy season, so every household needs to raise awareness to reduce damage. At the same time, all levels of government need to support and promptly inform people about landslide risks in the regions.