Constant worries on the banks of Hieu and Dinh rivers

(Baonghean) - Hieu River section passing through Chau Tien Commune (Quy Chau), Dinh River passing through Tam Hop Commune (Quy Hop) has recently become more aggressive during the rainy season and "eats" deeply into the cultivated land and residential land on both banks, greatly affecting the production and daily life of the people...

We went to Minh Tien village, Chau Tien commune (Quy Chau), followed the bank of Hieu river and witnessed the scene of long-term landslides, in some places the river "eats" right into people's houses, in some places the landslide was 10 - 12m deep... Mr. Dang Ngoc Phan (55 years old) in Minh Tien village led us to the back of his house and said: "The riverbank is only about 6 - 7m from the house. My family invested in buying stone cages to prevent landslides, but then the flood washed them all away". Next to that was Ms. Nga's house, precariously perched on the edge of the landslide; she said: "A few years ago, the landslide swept my family's house into the river. I moved inside to build another house, but now it is in danger of losing it too".

Concrete pile houses still spring up along the banks of Hieu River.

During the annual flood season, the Hieu River rises and rolls red, sweeping away many bamboo bushes and large trees near the river. Some families have to seek refuge elsewhere, but there are also households who risk their lives to stay. It is known that the landslide on the Hieu River bank through Minh Tien village is about 1 km long, the lowest point of the landslide is 4-5m, the highest point is over 10m. In the past 5 years, the river has encroached on nearly 1 hectare of residential land in Minh Tien village. Currently, the river bank has encroached on the houses of households, threatening people's lives during the flood season. When asking some households why they do not move to a safe place, they said they do not want to move because they have lived here for decades, along National Highway 48, near the tourist site of Bua Cave, so it is easy to do business.

Mr. Nguyen Thanh Hoai - Head of the Finance Department of Quy Chau district added: “Minh Tien village has over 40 households living along the banks of the Hieu River in a dangerous situation due to riverbank erosion. For many years, the District People's Committee has not issued "red books" to households living along the river; at the same time, the district and commune have also promoted and strictly prohibited people from building or expanding their houses... The current solution is to plan and resettle over 40 households to move to a safe place. However, the difficulty is that the commune's land fund is limited and there is no funding to build infrastructure for resettlement."

Dinh River, Tam Hop Commune (Quy Hop) section in Quyet Tien, Tan My, Tan Mung, Dinh and Dong Chao hamlets, is also severely eroded. Ms. Ho Thi Hai's house in Tan Mung hamlet is less than 10 meters from the river's edge; Ms. Hai is worried: "My garden land is very large, but in recent years the river has "eaten" very quickly and is now close to the house. I hope the State will have a solution to shore up the riverbank so that we can stabilize our lives"...

Ms. Ho Thi Hai in Tan Mung village (Tam Hop, Quy Hop) at the landslide of Dinh river.

In Tan Mung hamlet alone, over 130 households (mainly Tho ethnic people) are facing the highest risk of landslides. The hamlet lost over 20 hectares of cultivated land, 10 hectares of residential land, and over 30 households are on warning status and must evacuate. Mr. Hoang Xuan Ngu, Chairman of Tam Hop Commune People's Committee, said: The landslide extended along the Dinh River for about 3 km, and the whole commune has over 150 households on warning status of landslide risk. Of which, over 50 households are located in particularly dangerous areas that must be evacuated, including Quyet Tien, Tan My, Tan Mung, Dinh hamlet, Dong Chao, etc.

From 2011 to now, the commune has only been able to relocate nearly 10 households to a safe place, the rest are still clinging to the riverbank because life is too difficult and they cannot afford to buy land. In addition to the damage to land and property of the people, the Dinh River has wiped out the old road 532, which is more than 2 km long. The newly built commune People's Committee headquarters is only 50m from the Dinh River bank. To deal with the landslides, in recent years, the commune People's Committee has mobilized people to plant bamboo, drive bamboo stakes, and some landslides are severe, but it has not worked, every flood season everything flows down the river. "Since 2013, provincial and district officials have come many times to survey and plan to build embankments on the Dinh River bank, however, up to now, nothing has been seen" - Mr. Ngu said.

The reason why the rivers become so fierce in the rain that they gradually swallow the banks, according to the indignant people, is due to the massive and indiscriminate exploitation of forests and minerals at the source and on the riverbed... But anyway, that is a "fait accompli"... The problem is that another flood season is coming, and the officials and people of the above localities are worried about landslides.

Van Truong