Find an 'oasis' in Xiangyang

(Baonghean) -During the rainy season, many areas in Tuong Duong can easily turn into 'oasis' - isolated for many days, making it difficult for strangers to enter.

After a heavy rain, we had a business trip to Nhon Mai commune (Tuong Duong). From Nhon Mai village (commune center), we intended to go to Huoi Co village, about 20 km away as the crow flies, but Mr. Luong Van Hiep - Chairman of the Commune People's Committee stopped us: "It's the rainy season now, Huoi Co has become an "oasis", at times it was completely cut off, only local people who are familiar with the road can go there".

Villages in Tuong Duong district were isolated during the flood. Photo: Cong Khang

That is because, from the commune center, it takes nearly 20 km by motorbike, to Tham Tham village, you have to park your motorbike and walk another 10 km. The road to Huoi Co is a small path, leveled by the locals every year to serve the needs of travel, but every rainy season it is eroded, broken, slippery and muddy. Not to mention the dangers when the stream water rises, the banks of the river are swept down the cliff, always threatening the lives of passersby. Therefore, only when there is a real need do the villagers go out, otherwise hardly anyone goes out on rainy days.

Nhon Mai commune has 12 villages and 3 ethnic groups (Thai, Mong and Kho Mu) living together. Since the completion of the Tay Nghe An road, the villages of Nhon Mai, Xa Mat, Na Hy, Co Ha, Xoi Voi and Tham Tham have been "liberated". Currently, nearly half of the villages in the commune are still isolated during the rainy season, especially the Mong villages such as Huoi Co, Huoi Man and Pha Mut...

Huu Khuong people open the road to Huoi Pung village. Photo: Cong Khang

On days of heavy rain, roads collapse and streams rise, putting villages in a state of “no one in or out”. People have to live a self-sufficient life, waiting until the rainy season ends.

Huu Khuong Commune is also considered an “oasis”. This is an area located in the heart of Ban Ve hydroelectric lake. To reach the commune center and most of the villages, the only way to go is by motorboat.From the commune center to the villages, the main means of transportation are still motorboats and walking, so on rainy and flood days, each village in Huu Khuong becomes an "oasis".

After each heavy rain, the road leading to the inner villages of Luong Minh commune (Tuong Duong) is seriously damaged. Photo: Cong Khang

On that business trip, we went to Huu Khuong, near Huoi Pung, met an old man of the Kho Mu ethnic group, rented a motorboat for more than 30 minutes, then followed the trail along the stream to return to the village. After heavy rains, the trail that had just been opened by the villagers at the beginning of the year was washed away in many parts, broken, not to mention the strong current of the stream, so we had to return.

Mr. Lo Van Bon - Police officer and postman of the commune added that during the rainy and flood days, not only Huoi Pung but also other villages such as Xan, Huoi Co, Cha Lang and Pung Bon were isolated, and the only way to communicate was by phone.

However, remote villages are often not covered by the network, so communication is very difficult, and people have to go through the forest to find a signal. In general, life in villages considered as "oases" is already very difficult on normal days, and during the rainy season, the difficulty increases many times over.

The road to Huoi Pung village, Huu Khuong commune (Tuong Duong). Photo: Cong Khang

In Tuong Duong, many villages in the communes of Mai Son, Tam Hop, Nga My, Luong Minh and Luu Kien have also become "oases" because of rising streams, landslides and slippery roads, significantly affecting people's travel and lives.

Mr. Pham Trong Hoang - Secretary of Tuong Duong District Party Committee said: "Every year, in the middle of the dry season, the district directs the communes to mobilize people to repair and open roads to remote villages to promote socio-economic development, but in the rainy season, they are completely damaged. In the coming time, the district will continue to research and invest in upgrading a number of roads to serve the lives of people in remote areas."

Cong Khang