Helplessly watching the newly renovated house collapse due to landslide
The recent floods have caused heavy damage to many households in the mountainous districts of Nghe An in particular. In particular, among these households, there are households that have just built houses with money and materials after many years of saving, but they have been buried in the soil and rocks.
New house 6 days old and already ruined
For the past 3 days, the family of Mr. Lo Van Mao (38 years old, Xieng Huong village, Xa Luong commune, Tuong Duong) has had to stay at a relative's house after his newly built house collapsed. Mr. Mao is one of the households that suffered the most damage in thelandslides caused by heavy rainsin Tuong Duong district. “We just had a housewarming party last week, and our new house had only been in the house for 6 days when it collapsed. Our 2 children are working far away and haven’t had time to come home to celebrate the new house with their parents,” Mr. Mao said in grief.
Mao's family used to live in a dilapidated wooden house that often leaked when it rained. Over the years, Mao often traveled to the provinces to work as a construction worker, diligently saving money to build a solid house. To support their father, Mao's two eldest children, who are only 16 and 18 years old, recently dropped out of school to go to the northern provinces to apply for jobs at companies.
“Seeing that my children were also working for hire, at the beginning of the year I decided to take a risk and borrow more than 600 million VND to build a house. I thought that if the three of us worked diligently, we would pay off the debt in a few years, but I never expected that the house would be buried as soon as it was built.”
Mr. Lo Van Mao (38 years old, Xieng Huong village, Xa Luong commune, Tuong Duong district)
It is known that the total cost of building this house was nearly 1 billion VND. On September 15, Mr. Mao's family held a housewarming party to celebrate their new home, after many months of construction. As for the old wooden house, he took it apart but only enough to change the bed.
By the afternoon of September 21, after many days of continuous heavy rain, the rocks and soil from the mountain behind the house began to show signs of sliding down. Mr. Mao immediately called for help from local authorities and neighbors. “Xa Luong Commune then mobilized cadres and militia to evacuate the property in the house. Not long after, hundreds of cubic meters of rocks and soil fell down, gradually burying the house. Luckily, the landslide happened in the afternoon. If it had happened at night when the whole family was sleeping, the whole family would not have been able to escape in time,” Mr. Mao added.
At the scene, the back walls of Mr. Mao’s house were torn apart by the pressure of the rocks and soil falling from the mountain. Pieces of concrete and steel lay scattered. Rocks and soil poured into the house, more than 2 meters high. The structure of the house was almost completely destroyed and could not be repaired.
“Now I am in debt and have to tear down my old house to get a bed. I don’t know what to do next. I just hope to receive support.”
Mr. Lo Van Mao (38 years old, Xieng Huong village, Xa Luong commune, Tuong Duong district)
Fleeing because of landslides
In the same situation as Mr. Mao, for more than a week, the entire family of 6 members of Mr. La Van Chien (47 years old, Xieng Thu village, Chieu Luu commune, Ky Son district) also had to take shelter at a neighbor's house. Mr. Chien's house completely collapsed, buried under a layer of rocks and soil several meters high. "I just built this house less than 9 months ago. I don't know where to hold on to in the near future," Mr. Chien said helplessly. This is the household that suffered the most damage due to the recent floods in Ky Son district.
Mr. Chien and his wife work on the farm all year round and are a poor household in the commune. After many years living in a dilapidated wooden house, at the end of 2023, Mr. Chien borrowed money from relatives, along with the money he had saved over a long period of time, to build a solid house, with a total cost of more than 400 million VND.
Mr. Chien’s house was built against the slope of a mountain range that had never been affected by landslides before. However, on the evening of September 14, rocks and soil from the mountain began to flow down like a stream. The local government immediately mobilized cadres and militia to help the family evacuate.
“The rocks and soil fell so quickly that even with the government’s support, they could only remove the roof tiles and a few wooden planks. Not long after, the entire house was buried. There are six members in the family, and we cannot stay with others forever. We don’t know what will happen next.”
Mr. La Van Chien (47 years old, Xieng Thu village, Chieu Luu commune, Ky Son district)
According to the report of the People's Committee of Tuong Duong district, due to the impact of storm No. 4, from September 20 to 22, heavy rains affected nearly 90 houses of households in the area. Of these, 6 houses were completely damaged, including the newly built house of Mr. Lo Van Mao. Most of these houses were caused by landslides caused by rocks and soil falling from the mountain.
In Thach Giam town (Tuong Duong), Hoa Binh hotel was also hit by landslides, causing the room wall to collapse, and dozens of cubic meters of earth to flow in. Heavy rains for many days also caused landslides on a series of major roads in the district, temporarily isolating many areas. In addition, dozens of hectares of rice fields were also buried.
According to the report of the People's Committee of Ky Son district, the impact of storms No. 3 and No. 4 recently caused heavy rain, affecting 18 houses. Among them, some houses completely collapsed. Fortunately, before the landslide, the local authorities evacuated people and some of their property.
However, in Ky Son district, there are still many places with high risk of landslides. In Xop Phe and Na Mi villages (Muong Tip commune), local authorities have had to mobilize people to move to live in combination with neighboring households that are not affected by landslides; prepare plans to evacuate people and property when natural disasters occur. In Canh village (Ta Ca commune), although functional forces have carried out landslide treatment and excavation to reduce the load on the slope, the surrounding locations still have potential risks of landslides. Therefore, the authorities are still having to mobilize people to move to live in combination with neighboring households; at the same time, put up warning signs and assign people to be on duty to prevent people and vehicles from circulating. Prepare plans to evacuate people and property when natural disasters occur.
Similarly, landslides also occurred in villages such as Nam Tien 2 (Bao Nam commune), Sa Vang (Ta Ca commune), Xop Tu (My Ly commune), Pha Khom (Pha Danh commune), and Luu Thang (Chieu Luu commune) of Ky Son district, and many households had to evacuate to safe places to take shelter./.