Precarious lives along the Nam Non River
Sharing the same fate of losing their homes in the 2018 floods, some households in Luong Minh commune (Tuong Duong district) were allocated resettlement housing, while others are left waiting, risking their lives in dilapidated houses. Meanwhile, the resettlement area, costing over 12 billion VND, only houses 5 households and has recently revealed several irregularities.
Lying there, barely surviving in an abandoned house.
For nearly six years, Mr. Lay Van Thoa (59 years old, La village, Luong Minh commune, Tuong Duong district) has been waiting for the day he can finally have a place to live. His wife is ill and unable to work, his children have married and moved far away, and their families are not well-off enough to help their parents. All the burdens of the family fall on Mr. Thoa's shoulders. His income mainly depends on farming, often resulting in meager meals. Therefore, saving up to buy land and build a house is almost impossible for him.
“I’ve found a plot of land, but they’re asking for 45 million dong, and I don’t have the money to pay. Besides, even if I had the land, I wouldn’t know where to get the money to build a house. So I’m still risking living in this abandoned house,” Mr. Thoa said, pointing to the numerous cracks all over the house. He had just patched those cracks with mortar, but that didn’t seem to be enough to ensure safety. On rainy days, the house gets soaked because of leaks. Every time the flood season comes, the water from the Nam Non River rises to the edge of the house’s foundation, and Mr. Thoa and his wife don’t dare sleep there.
Mr. Lay Van Thoa was one of 31 households that lost their homes in the floods of August 2018. That day, after heavy rains, the hydroelectric dam was forced to release water, sweeping away Mr. Thoa's house and many of his belongings. "Luckily, my wife and I managed to escape in time, so we saved our lives," Mr. Thoa recounted.
Having lost their home, Mr. Thoa, along with his ailing wife and their meager remaining possessions, sought temporary shelter in the hut of his nephew who was working far away. However, three years later, his nephew returned home and built a new house, forcing Mr. Thoa and his wife to pack up and find another place to live. That is the house he currently lives in.
According to Mr. Vi Dinh Phuc, Chairman of the People's Committee of Luong Minh commune, the house where Mr. Thoa and his wife are temporarily living was severely damaged during the 2018 floods and is at risk of being swept away into the Nam Non River at any time.
This house has been abandoned since 2018 and is slated for relocation. Legally, people shouldn't be allowed to live there, but Mr. and Mrs. Thoa are in a desperate situation, with nowhere else to go, so they have to take the risk.
Mr. Vi Dinh Phuc - Chairman of the People's Committee of Luong Minh Commune
During the 2018 floods, 31 households in Luong Minh commune lost their homes. Shortly after, each household received 70 million VND in assistance. The Tuong Duong district government then established an emergency resettlement project, but this resettlement area only had 17 plots of land, mostly allocated to households in Minh Phuong village. Twelve households in La village and a few in Coi village were still forced to live in makeshift huts along the roadside or with relatives.
We're in the same situation, but they've been allocated resettlement housing, while we haven't. We've repeatedly petitioned that if there's no resettlement project, at least some financial assistance could be provided so we can find land and build houses ourselves, but we've waited and waited and still haven't received anything.
Mr. Lay Van Thoa (59 years old, La village, Luong Minh commune, Tuong Duong district)
Not far from Mr. Thoa's makeshift house, Mrs. Vi Thi Lan (59 years old) shares the same plight. After her house was swept away by floods in 2018, Mrs. Lan and her husband had to erect a makeshift tent made of tarpaulin by the roadside to eke out a living. In 2019, her father-in-law passed away, and two years later, her husband also died. Both funerals had to be held in this temporary tent.
"That makeshift hut only had enough space to place the coffin; there was no place for worship or incense burning. Everyone who came to the funeral was deeply saddened," the Chairman of the People's Committee of Luong Minh commune recounted.
A few months ago, after waiting for so long, Mrs. Lan received some financial support from her two daughters who married and moved away. She then borrowed an additional 100 million VND from the bank to buy a small plot of land and build a house. Only then did Mrs. Lan finally have a stable life after nearly six years of living in makeshift tents.
Irregularities in the emergency resettlement project.
After 31 households lost their homes, Tuong Duong district approved a resettlement project to urgently relocate these households. Accordingly, on September 19, 2018, the Chairman of the People's Committee of Tuong Duong district signed a decision to award the land leveling contract to Nam Nghe Construction, Trade and Tourism Joint Stock Company. However, this resettlement project only has 17 land plots for 17 households. The project has a total budget of over 7.3 billion VND, of which over 2 billion VND is for land leveling, and the remainder is for infrastructure construction. The project covers a total area of over 14,000 m².2, of which the leveled area is 3,590 m².2.
According to our investigation, this project was constructed without the necessary documents and procedures. It hadn't even undergone geological surveys. As a result, the project subsequently encountered numerous problems.
The location for the resettlement project is Khe Cong. This is the same area that, more than 10 years ago, was chosen for relocating Xop Mat village and the commune's administrative center. However, after spending over 2 billion VND on leveling the land, numerous cracks and landslides appeared, leaving the area abandoned for over 10 years. Despite its history of landslides, the Tuong Duong District People's Committee still chose this area for the resettlement project, raising concerns among many residents. Initially, the project was scheduled to be completed in 5 months, but it has dragged on for over 5 years without completion.
In October 2020, when the project was about 95% complete, the authorities began encouraging residents to build houses. However, as feared by the residents, after only one household had finished building their house, the resettlement area experienced another landslide. Specifically, a nearly 100-meter-long slip appeared on the top of the embankment, with the widest crack being about 0.5 meters wide and 0.5 to 1 meter deep; the stone retaining wall protecting the embankment and drainage ditch had shifted from its original position, causing the drainage ditch at the foot of the embankment to break and be damaged. Fearing for the lives of the residents, the authorities requested that they temporarily refrain from building houses while awaiting the results of stability monitoring.
But it wasn't until more than two years later that the area was geologically surveyed. The results showed that it was "safe for people to build houses and settle down." However, due to the long wait, most households found land elsewhere to build their homes. According to the reporter's observations, only five households are currently living there.
Meanwhile, the project, initially costing 7.3 billion VND, required an additional 3 billion VND for the construction of a reinforced embankment to prevent landslides, along with over 2 billion VND spent on land leveling over 10 years ago. To date, the government has poured over 12 billion VND into this project. Such a large sum of money has been spent, yet only 5 households live here, raising questions among many residents about the project's effectiveness. Meanwhile, in La village, many households who lost their homes in 2018 are still living in dilapidated, abandoned houses.