People in Ky Son landslide area hope for a place to live

Lost home due to landslide

After 2 days of heavy rain in Chieu Luu commune (Ky Son), we arrived at the site.landslideserious in Xieng Thu village. The village is located on the road connecting Chieu Luu commune to Bao Thang commune. A huge amount of rock and soil from the cliff fell onto the road, hitting people's houses, some houses were buried, unable to be repaired to live in. Vehicles have not been able to pass through this section of the road for many days now.

Ms. Vi Thi Mon, holding her baby in her arms, stood in front of her house that had just been buried by rocks and soil, wiping away her tears and sadly saying: Her husband - Mr. La Van On went to Laos to do business, saved up a little capital, and 4 years ago built a wooden frame house with brick walls, worth nearly 500 million VND.

They thought their life was stable and they were "settling down", but unexpectedly, after just one night of heavy rain, rocks and soil from the cliff behind the house collapsed, leaving the couple penniless.

“Luckily, the local government came to help remove all the wood, and the couple took their two children to another house to stay, so they escaped. For now, the whole family is staying with relatives, but we don’t know what to do in the long term. We hope the local government will arrange a resettlement area to build a house,” said Vi Thi Mon.

According to people living in Xieng Thu village, after heavy rains and floods in 2022 and 2023, landslides occurred in this area, and some households lost their homes. Ms. Vi Thi Mon's family, because they had no place to build a house, tried to stay. Therefore, the family invested tens of millions of VND to build a stone embankment behind the house to prevent landslides. However, the rains and floods occurred continuously, causing terrible landslides, making the stone embankment unable to withstand them, and now they have to accept dismantling the house to escape.

Not far away, rocks and soil also flooded the road, crashing into the land of Ms. Vi Thi Chien and several other households. Standing in front of the house that was threatened with being buried by rocks and soil, Ms. Chien said she did not dare to rebuild her house there anymore but would evacuate to her relatives' house to live. Observations showed that in this serious landslide area, there were more than 10 houses in a state of anxiety, because on one side was a cliff that was always in a state of landslide, on the other side was a deep stream, the risk of losing the house was very high.

Mr. Lo Van Cang - Chairman of the People's Committee of Chieu Luu commune said: Due to the impact of storm No. 4, especially the heavy rain on the night of September 30, the locality suffered great damage to property and crops of the people. Of which, 40 houses were affected by landslides and flooding, 5 houses had to be urgently evacuated. Due to the forecast, along with the mobilization of local forces to support people in moving their houses, properties and people out of the danger zone, fortunately there were no human casualties, but many families no longer have homes to live in.

Currently, the locality encourages households to overcome difficulties and stay temporarily at relatives' houses. The commune will propose to superiors to arrange a new resettlement area.

New resettlement area will be arranged

Talking to us, Mr. Tho Ba Re - Vice Chairman of the District People's CommitteeKy Sonsaid: Before each period of heavy rain is forecast, the district directs communes and towns to proactively handle situations when heavy rain occurs. However, due to the impact of storm No. 4 and especially the heavy rain on the night of September 30, 54 houses in the district were damaged. Of which, 3 houses were completely damaged.

Many roads in the communes of Huu Kiem, Chieu Luu, Bao Thang... were eroded. The Xieng Thu - Bao Thang road continued to have landslides in some locations, damaging a culvert across the road in Bao Thang commune; the section through Luu Hoa village, Chieu Luu commune, had landslides with a risk of breaking the road about 70m long.

On the commune roads (Xieng Tam - Xang Tren - Xop Duong - Cha Nga, Yen Hoa - Pha Chieng, Noong De - Huoi Poc,...) of Nam Can commune, there were landslides, the total length of the landslide was about 80m, the volume was about more than 1000m³.

Mr. Tho Ba Re said that Chieu Luu is a locality where heavy rains and landslides often occur, so since 2023, the district has coordinated with the locality to conduct field surveys in the villages, especially in key flooded areas, riverside areas, cliffs... and has identified about 300 households that must be relocated, of which more than 10 households are subject to emergency relocation in Xieng Thu village.

To give these households a new place to live, the district has considered the option of establishing a resettlement area.ResettlementAccordingly, the district has surveyed the Pieng Xet land area of ​​Khe Nan village, Chieu Luu commune to make a new resettlement area for more than 300 households mentioned above.

“To have a new resettlement site, the district must also propose a project to the higher authorities, then implement it, so it will take many months. Therefore, for now, households must find safe locations to build their houses, otherwise they will wait for the district to build a resettlement area to build houses,” Mr. Tho Ba Re shared./.