Landslides threaten many schools in the highlands of Nghe An

Disaster from the mountain top

For more than a week now, teachers and parents in Xop Nam village, Tam Hop commune (Tuong Duong) have not yet recovered from the shock of the landslide. Large rocks rolled down from the top of the mountain, nearly crushing the village’s kindergarten, and have not been cleaned up yet, lying scattered on the side of the road.

Tam Hop commune has 5 kindergartens, of which the school in Xop Nam village is the main one, not only a place for children in the village to study but also a place where teachers often gather to work. The school is located at the foot of the towering Khe Tuong mountain, with a rather steep slope. On the evening of September 8, after a heavy rain, a series of large and small rocks rolled down from the top of the mountain, collapsing the fence of the school.

Bricks and stones are scattered at the main point of Tam Hop Kindergarten. Photo: TH

“Luckily it was nighttime, no one was there. And luckily the rock hit the fence, just a meter off, maybe a building would have collapsed,” said a teacher at the school who lives nearby.

According to the villagers, this is not the first time they have witnessed this scene. There have been many landslides on this mountain, causing damage to people's property and schools, directly threatening the lives of local households. Every rainy season, they have to live in fear of soil and rocks falling from the mountain to bury them.

The rock rolled down and almost tore the entire classroom apart. Photo: TH

According to the leader of Tam Hop commune, Xop Nam village has 19 households with 80 people, mainly Thai ethnic people, compared to the general level, it still has many difficulties. "The terrain where the households live is very steep, the rocky hills above are very complicated. Every time the rainy season and floods come, the people here live in insecurity, anxiety, and fear. The recent landslide at the village's kindergarten is a "warning bell". Danger always lurks for the households living at the foot of Khe Tuong mountain. We are very afraid of a disaster of rocks and soil collapsing from the mountain", said Mr. Le Hong Thai - Secretary of the Party Committee of Tam Hop commune.

Through meetings with voters, people have always proposed to move out of this area, however, funding is a difficult problem for the locality, requiring support from higher levels. To prevent potential risks to teachers and students, in the 2021-2022 school year, Tam Hop commune has proactively worked with the school to move students from Xop Nam Kindergarten to Vang Mon village, 3.5km away, to study.

Parents build temporary bamboo embankments to prevent landslides at Luu Phong Primary School, Luu Kien Commune. Photo: TH

According to Ms. Nguyen Thi Ha - Principal of Tam Hop Commune Kindergarten, Xop Nam school has 26 children. During the rainy season, the fear of landslides from the mountains is always present, making teachers and parents very uneasy. For many years, whenever it rains heavily, to prevent landslides, many times the villagers have had to carry their belongings and carry their children all night.

The school has a lifespan of… 1 month.

Canh Village Kindergarten (Ta Ca Commune, Ky Son District) is located in the middle of a densely populated residential area. Surrounded by pig pens of local villagers, teachers and students here are often tormented by the stench. It is cramped, damp, and located in the middle of the road, where people often let their cows pass by, making it very inconvenient.

A few years ago, after many requests, the government decided to build a new school in a different location. The project has a total investment of nearly 3 billion VND. “When we received the information, both teachers and parents in the village were happy because they no longer had to study in this cramped location,” said a teacher.

Ban Canh Kindergarten in Ta Ca Commune was put into operation for a month but had to be closed due to landslides. Photo: Tien Hung

The opening day of the previous school year was also the first day the children studied at the new school. The teachers worked together for many days to renovate and add many details to make it suitable for a kindergarten. However, more than a month after the opening day, the children had to return to the old school to continue studying.

Currently, the government has built a new school, located on a high mountain. Photo: TH

“After studying there for only a month, landslides started, and rocks and soil from the top of the mountain poured down. Parents in the village were also worried, so no one agreed to let their children study there anymore, so they had to move back to the old place. It is a pity that the teachers' efforts to renovate and add more playgrounds for the children were wasted,” said Ms. Dao Thi Kim Oanh, Principal of Ta Ca Kindergarten. She added that the government has now built another school for the children in Canh village, but it is not yet finished. However, due to lack of land, the new school was also built right on the mountainside. Therefore, no one is sure how long the school will last if it is eroded again.

Landslide threatens Luu Phong Primary School, Luu Kien Commune. Photo: TH

Meanwhile, at Luu Phong Primary School (Luu Kien Commune, Tuong Duong District), teachers and students are also having to study in fear because of landslides. This school has more than 40 students from the village, from grades 1 to 4. The classrooms are located against the mountain, and have been buried by rocks and soil more than a meter high. After each heavy rain, teachers and parents have to spend all day clearing dozens of cubic meters of rocks and soil that have fallen from above. According to Mr. Nguyen Dinh Hung - Principal of Luu Kien Primary School, many cracks have appeared on the top of the mountain, so teaching below is also very worrying.

Bamboo embankments like this are not enough to prevent landslides. Therefore, every time it rains, the school has to let the students stay home. Photo: TH

At the beginning of the year, a working group from the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development and Tuong Duong district came to inspect and then promised to build a dike to protect the school. But now, the new school year has begun and the dike is still nowhere to be seen. Parents in the village still have to go into the forest to cut bamboo and build a temporary dike. “Both teachers and parents are looking forward to your attention. The rainy and stormy season is approaching, and we are really worried. Like every year, every time it rains, we have to let the children at this school stay home,” said Mr. Hung.

Mr. Kha Van Lap - Head of the Department of Education and Training of Tuong Duong district said that in addition to the two schools in Tam Hop and Luu Kien, several other schools in Mai Son and Yen Tinh communes are also threatened by landslides. Although this year's rainy season has just begun...