Village death anniversary
I went against the Thu Bon River, up to Hon Kem Da Dung (belonging to Nong Son, former Quang Nam, now Nong Son commune, Da Nang city) to attend the death anniversary of a friend's family. Both sides of the road are still flooded with mud. Garbage piles are still stuck on treetops, even on rows of power poles. Everywhere, people are rushing to clear fields, preparing for the new crop season. Winter - Spring crop.
But village roads suddenly become bustling, people and vehicles from the lowlands flock in crowds. You explain: It's the village's death anniversary season. Almost every clan and family has a death anniversary. Villagers tell stories that from ancient times, the cold winter in this land has been prolonged, cold and hungry, causing diseases. Near Tet is also the time with the most worries of the year. Perhaps that's why the elderly are exhausted, young people have many accidents, so many deaths are concentrated in winter, leading to many overlapping death anniversaries.
In particular, the historic flood in the year of Thin - 1964, Quang Nam killed nearly 1,000 people. Most of them were along the Thu Bon and Vu Gia rivers and mainly concentrated in this Nong Son area. Many villages died hundreds of times. After the flood passed, only a few people survived. At that time, people in this rural area did not have telephones or information. Suddenly rising floods, sinking roofs, both people and livestock were swept away by the water.
Houses at that time were low, all covered with thatch, bamboo walls, and temporary columns, so they could not withstand natural disasters. Sitting on the roof, in the flood, people waved goodbye to each other. Many families tied a string together hoping not to lose... their bodies. That is a painful milestone in the history of the Central region called "Tinh year flood".
Returning to my hometown with friends, but for me, it was returning to the land that once haunted me in the old flood seasons. That was in 1999, during a relief trip to Que Ninh commune - this upstream area, when the floodwaters suddenly rose again. We - the charity social work delegation of the Golden Heart Fund of Lao Dong Newspaper and the people ran from the flood in chaos. Amidst the scene of mud, strong water and cold rain, we discovered five sisters and children huddled in a cowshed collapsed on the hill. The children were soaked, hungry, sharing a little food. Their father had passed away before. Their mother had just been swept away by the flood while going into the forest to collect clouds and fibers to Na Lau. In just two floods, the whole family had no one to protect them.
There are many objective reasons why only 2 out of 5 orphan sisters were brought back to be raised at the Da Nang Street Children's Protection Center. The remaining three children had to be displaced in many different places, starting a precarious journey.
Many years later, in 2007, floods came again and swept through this region. Old scenario repeated. In the same Que Ninh mountainous area, another family, Mr. Le Van Dung and Ms. Thai Thi Chin, were swept away by floods. Three young children were abandoned when the first child was only 9 years old. The youngest child did not understand the pain of orphanhood when he was only 3 years old. The only remaining relative was an old and weak grandmother, who herself had to bear one more disabled child. The children were then adopted by SOS Village in Da Nang.
That year, when writing a report about the "abandoned children of the flood", my heart ached. So that my friend's hometown of Nong Son became a place I often go back to.
Prosperity and peace will return
In November this year - 2025, for the first time in 61 years, the homeland of Quang Nam - Da Nang and the Central region were hit by such a large flood. According to measurements by the Central Hydrometeorological Agency, many locations along the Thu Bon and Vu Gia rivers measured floodwater levels exceeding even the peak of the Thin year flood. Tens of thousands of houses were flooded, but the number of deaths related to floods did not exceed 10 fingers. That is lucky.
Of course, the work of forecasting and implementing disaster prevention measures still has many existing problems that need to be discussed and further improved to minimize damage to the people. But clearly, thanks to continuous, timely updates, covering every citizen. Serious and strict warning information has helped limit damage. In addition, construction projects throughout the countryside are solid. People's houses are mostly built of concrete, many high-rise buildings... Therefore, even if the flood peak is higher than the year of Thin, the loss of life is insignificant compared to the previous sad historical milestones.
The death anniversary was full of rustic, exotic and delicious dishes. But Uncle Bon's young cabbage brought from Duy Xuyen to contribute impressed me the most. Mr. Bon is originally from upstream Thu Bon, but drifted downstream to establish a career. Every year when the flood passes, he immediately goes to the alluvial ground to sow cabbage, clean the fields, prepare for the new season. The first crop of young cabbage he brought back to his hometown to contribute, as a death anniversary for his father. After the big flood, field rats, pests and diseases were all eliminated. So the cabbage was fresh, clean and still smelled of alluvium, very attractive.
Rolling young mustard greens with crispy fried ram pieces and listening to stories about flood ridges, I feel sorry for the people along the river. So that now they can be peaceful, happy, gather around the altar to commemorate their ancestors, loved ones who died because of the floods of previous winters, they have paid a lot of price. The way they learned from experience in choosing land to build houses. The way they looked at the changing seasons to predict rain and floods. The way they had to suffer to cope with erratic floods after dozens of hydropower reservoirs upstream in recent years.
The Central region is not a uniform plane. Right in the same province, but the western mountainous region is affected by flash floods, the valley and coastal plains are affected by flooding. The coastal region is also affected by storms combined with high tides...
The narrow strip of land, stretching from North to South, cutting through many short and steep rivers - flowing from the East bank of the Truong Son range to the sea. The planning of infrastructure and roads, which often raises the foundation with the intention of overcoming floods, has become " dikes" blocking the natural flow. Not to mention, along with the operation of flood discharge by hydropower, the law of the tide changes rapidly.
Therefore, each region, depending on the location of the village, people create their own ways of building storm and flood shelters. Along the Thu Bon, Vu Gia rivers, from Duy Xuyen, Dai Loc, Nong Son, people have created an effective form of flood shelter. Initially, it was only used to... store rice and for cows to shelter. These are huts/mid-houses built on high concrete pillars, space on all sides vacant, or slightly walled.
When the flood comes, people and property are put on high floors. Due to the airy space, the pressure of the flow on the construction has decreased significantly. More importantly, in case the floodwaters exceed historical milestones, unexpectedly, rescue forces can reach by canoe extremely easily. They can observe the victims from afar and rescue them immediately, instead of having to break walls, remove tiled roofs, and kick corrugated iron to pull people out like traditional solid houses. Many people in this rural area escaped the fierce flood thanks to that.
Going is changing people", "as long as people are left, everything is left"... Those are the catchphrases that villagers encourage each other with. But looking at the empty houses, sparsely with a few chairs and wooden beds still covered in mud, it's hard to bear it. After years of sun and rain, worrying about poverty and raising children. Spending money to buy a few advanced items and electronics will be swept away or damaged by floods. Poverty will drag you down for decades. However, just looking at the optimism through the village's death anniversary, you can feel the strength and steadfastness of the people of Nong Son, of the Central region.
The flood passing through the Central region this year is repeated and exceeded the milestone of the Year of the Dragon - 1964. Meaning it subsided the roof, exceeded the electric pole. The flood also changed strangely in flow, intensity, time... Therefore, people cannot mark milestones on walls, on flood alarm poles anymore. These milestones are now new experiences that have been added, and preventive information has been shared and passed on. Not only by Zalo groups, SMS messages, social networking platforms, but in this countryside, along the Thu Bon and Vu Gia rivers, people also tell each other to run away from floods with village drums, bells... Forecast by flood level of each village, each hill, wharf to recognize and take care of safety.
Uncle Bon's young mustard greens at the death anniversary in Nong Son followed me throughout the journey home. In the young green color of new seedlings, green vegetable beds all along the riverbank, preparing for the Tet season. Nouriness and peace will return to this land.
