People living in landslide areas are insecure. When will they be relocated and resettled?

Many "hot spots"

In recent years, due to the impact of climate change, heavy rains have frequently occurred in some mountainous districts of Nghe An, causing flash floods and landslides. The “hot spots” of landslides include Con Cuong, Tuong Duong, Ky Son, Que Phong districts, etc. In particular, in the border district of Ky Son, flash floods have causedlandslideis always a nightmare for people in many communes such as Keng Du, Muong Ai, Muong Tip, Bao Nam, Ta Ca...

In Huoi Cang village, Keng Du commune, a village located in the valley between the junction of Nam Soc stream and Huoi Phuon stream, this is an area with narrow terrain, steep cliffs on both sides, narrow stream bed, and frequent risk of flash floods, landslides from upstream. In particular, Nam Soc stream originates from Dooc May commune and flows down, during the annual rainy season, a large amount of water flows down, causing insecurity for people. In particular, in the years 2018, 2021, 2022, in this area, people suffered great damage due to floods.

Faced with the urgent situation, the people of Huoi Cang village have repeatedly petitioned the authorities to have a plan to evacuate people from the landslide risk area. In fact, this location has been planned for relocation by the Provincial People's Committee in Decision No. 214/QD-UBND dated January 21, 2020 approving the planning of residential areas and production organization adapting to natural disasters in Nghe An province until 2030.

Accordingly, the implementation plan will be carried out by digging and leveling the ground, building a drainage system, electricity, a cultural house, etc. on an area of ​​about 5 hectares, planned for 40 households, with a total cost of about 30 billion VND. However, up to now, due to many difficulties, the construction of a resettlement site to relocate 40 households in Huoi Cang village has not been carried out.

Hoa Son village, Ta Ca commune (Ky Son) suffered a terrible flash flood in early October 2022. The flash flood caused serious landslides, with large cracks appearing, the widest place being 1.5m, 1-2m deep; the length of the cracks and slide arc was about 500-700m, affecting the subsidence of the Muong Xen - Tay Son traffic route (section through Ta Ca commune); burying the entire Huoi Giang stream system (section from Son Ha village to Hoa Son village). In addition, this terrible flash flood also left dozens of households homeless. Of these, 16 households are currently living temporarily in tents and shacks at the old location; 6 households are staying at relatives' houses; 10 households are staying in temporary houses at other locations; 3 households are staying in dormitories at schools and 4 households have found new locations to build solid houses.

After the flash flood in Hoa Son village, the People's Committee of Ky Son district also made a plan to relocate about 200 households in 2 locations. Site 1 in Cau Tam village, has an area of ​​8.6 hectares; Site 2 has an area of ​​3.9 hectares, located behind the district's Vocational Education and Continuing Education Center. However, up to now, the relocation of people to new residences has not been completed, while the rainy and flood season is approaching.

According to our actual observations, at the resettlement site in Cau Tam village, the current status of this area is that there are no large trees but mainly shrubs. A leader of the Department of Natural Resources and Environment of Ky Son district said that this resettlement site is currently stuck with natural forest recovering from slash-and-burn farming, so we have to ask for the Prime Minister's opinion on land conversion. Therefore, it has not been implemented yet.

It is known that currently, in Ky Son district, there are 8 subsidence and landslide points that need support for implementation. In particular, in addition to the landslide location in block 4, 5 of Muong Xen town, which has been dug up and embanked to prevent landslides (but continues to be eroded), many other locations are also in need of early implementation.

In Tuong Duong district, flash floods, landslides also occur frequently, causing heavy damage to people's lives and property. Mr. Lo Kham Kha - Head of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Tuong Duong district said: In recent years, there have been many landslides in the district, causing damage to people's property and houses, mainly in the communes of Yen Na, Yen Hoa, Nga My, Luong Minh, Tam Hop... near large rivers and streams. In some places, people have had to live in high-risk landslide areas for many years, such as Xop Nam village (Tam Hop commune), located at the foot of a mountain 611m above sea level, with the surface mainly covered with bushes, bamboo and many large rocks, with a very high risk of landslides affecting 53 households and a kindergarten at the foot of the mountain.

Or in Tung Huong village (Tam Quang commune), there are 75 households living at the foot of a high mountain. After prolonged rains and storms, people here had to evacuate to a safe location because landslides occurred at this location, many rocks with very large masses rolled from the top of the hill to people's houses, causing panic, anxiety, and making people's lives difficult.

Mr. Kha said that before each rainy and stormy season, the district directs the communes to establish local shock troops to be on standby and respond, in order to promptly evacuate households living along rivers, streams, and mountain slopes, where there is a possibility of landslides and flash floods, to safe places. However, in the long term, it is necessary to quickly build resettlement sites so that people can live and produce with peace of mind.

Need to speed up population resettlement

On January 21, 2020, the Provincial People's Committee issued Decision 214/QD-UBND approving the planning of residential areas and production organization to adapt to natural disasters in the area until 2030. This planning is based on the viewpoint of being consistent with the national strategy on natural disaster prevention and control, provincial planning; ensuring people's safety, stabilizing production in accordance with natural conditions, regional and local socio-economic conditions. In particular, priority is given to areas at high risk of natural disasters, particularly difficult areas. Priority is given to interlacing and stabilizing on-site, in case it is not possible to arrange, then arrange to other villages and hamlets.

The goal of this program is to basically complete the resettlement of residents and the organization of production to adapt to natural disasters in the whole province by 2030, stabilize people in resettlement areas, improve their lives, and minimize damage caused by natural disasters. Specifically, by 2030, 8,938 households and 38,405 people will be resettled. Of which, 99 households and 394 people are households and individuals who have lost their residential land and production land due to landslides, flash floods, landslides, land subsidence, inundation, and tornadoes; 8,415 households and 36,585 people are households and individuals living in areas at risk of landslides, flash floods, landslides, land subsidence, inundation, and tornadoes, etc.

Although Decision 214 has been issued, it is very difficult to arrange and stabilize more than 8,000 households in disaster-affected areas. Mr. Le Van Luong - Head of the Provincial Department of Rural Development said: Due to the fact that natural disasters occur frequently, causing great material and spiritual damage to the people, the arrangement of new housing for people in disaster-affected areas is always of concern to all levels, sectors and localities.

During the 2013-2020 period, the province has relocated more than 1,000 households to new housing. During the 2021-2025 period, the Provincial People's Committee has also allocated over 100 billion VND from the medium-term public investment source for the 2021-2025 period to support a number of concentrated resettlement projects. Currently, due to the huge demand for stable resettlement of residents throughout the province, the implementation process must balance the budget, while relying on actual conditions, integrating many capital sources and programs for appropriate implementation.

Mr. Luong also said that planning and arranging land for people to resettle in resettlement areas to ensure both safe housing against natural disasters, storms and floods, and to ensure land for production and stable life is not an easy task. The reason is that finding land to resettle people in mountainous districts is extremely difficult; the process of implementing resettlement projects also takes a lot of time, because it is related to the thoughts, aspirations, customs and activities of the people. Not to mention, the arrangement of resettlement sites must also be consistent with the planning to ensure that people arriving at new places are safe, have a stable life and production for a long time...