Muong Tip flood area races against time to overcome flood consequences so teachers and students can confidently enter the new school year

Dozens of families have to stay with others

The historic flood on the night of July 22 caused more than half of Highway 543D from Muong Xen Commune to Muong Tip Commune to collapse into the Nam Mo River. Ta Do Village was the epicenter of the flood, dozens of houses were damaged and buried, many households still have to stay with relatives and neighbors.

Arriving at Ta Do village on August 14, we met Luong Thi Bay just as she and her parents were scraping mud from the main house, the mud reaching up to the adults' knees. "My books, clothes and the whole family's were washed away and buried under the mud. I don't know what to do for the new school year, I'm so sad" - Luong Thi Bay said.

While holding her youngest son, who is just over 1 year old, and cleaning up the remaining belongings, Bay's mother, Ven Thi Cot, pointed to the family's rice storage location and said that all 25 bags of rice left there had been swept away into the river. On the night of the flood, her husband went to work far away, and the four of them ran away, not having time to clean up their belongings, and the house was flooded with mud and uninhabitable. Now the whole family of 7 has split up to ask to stay at the neighbors' and her sister's house.

By August 19, Ms. Ven Thi Cot said that she still could not clear all the mud because there was too much, and it had been raining continuously for 2 days from August 16-17. The 3-room house was flooded twice, and soldiers helped clean the mud in the kitchen. For the past few days, the couple and their children have been waiting for the sun to rise and the mud to dry before they can take turns cleaning.

Walking along Highway 543D through Ta Do village, the chaotic scene is still evident with crooked roofs, scattered furniture and mud. Also in the same situation of having to stay at someone else's house, Cut Van Pho sadly said: "My house is covered with more than 1m of mud, now my wife, I and 3 children are staying at relatives' house. The oldest child is in 9th grade this year, the other two are in elementary school, my wife and I don't know how to get our children to school on time when the amount of dirt and rocks still takes up more than half of the house."

According to Ta Do Hoa Van Nuc, the village chief, 10 houses in the village were completely collapsed and washed away, and 16 houses were damaged over 50%. These households are currently staying with other families, or have to build temporary shelters to live in.

Efforts to overcome difficulties

Regularly going down to the village to help students' families clean up mud, teacher Vi Van Uyen - homeroom teacher of class 8B, Nam Tip Ethnic Boarding School said that not only Luong Thi Bay's family but also many other students' families in Ta Do village are having to both stay with others and urgently clean and repair their houses. Ta Do village has 170 households, more than 700 people, of which 78 houses were destroyed by floods, greatly affecting the children's learning and going to school.

Along with Mr. Uyen helping parents clean their houses, Ta Do Village Chief Hoa Van Nuc added that the current difficulties of Ta Do people are also production and labor issues. They are focusing their efforts, racing against the weather to clean their houses and stabilize their housing, so they cannot find jobs or work to earn more income. In addition, the crops and livestock of Muong Tip people are now very few left.

Worried about the upcoming risk of hunger, Mr. Hoa Pho Duyet in Ta Do village expressed that before the flood, many pigs and chickens in Ta Do died of disease. Now, with the flood, people have almost nothing left to reproduce and raise livestock. Currently, it is the time to enter the rainy season, so even if they want to reproduce, they have to wait until the housing is stable, and wait until the next spring crop to start.

Not only the people but also the local authorities and local forces in Muong Tip are making efforts every day so that students can go to school as scheduled. Secretary of the Muong Tip Commune Party Committee, Vi Thi Quyen, said that the flood has damaged 114 houses and seriously affected 3 schools. Those are Xop Phe Kindergarten, which completely collapsed on the night of July 27 and is no longer usable; Ta Do Kindergarten, which was flooded up to the roof, and all facilities were completely damaged; Ta Do Primary School, which had its entire first floor, multi-function house and student dormitory flooded, and all equipment and property were damaged.

Despite the great damage, the leaders of Muong Tip commune also affirmed that, with the joint efforts of the military forces, the "4 on-site" forces, volunteer groups, and benefactors, the work of overcoming the consequences of the flood is being accelerated and urgently completed. In particular, priority is given to resources to help schools and students' families repair their houses, stabilize their accommodation, and prepare enough supplies and books so that students can confidently enter the new school year.