Schools severely damaged
The flood has receded for more than a week, dozens of teachers and military, police, and militia forces have been actively clearing mud for 2 days without "eating" anything compared to the volume of silt filled with thousands of cubic meters with a thickness of more than 1m.
"Maybe we have to move in a few more weeks to finish. The amount of mud and fallen trees is terrible, said Mr. Tran Gia Thao - Principal of Muong tip 2 Ethnic Boarding School (Muong trip Commune).
According to Mr. Thao, before the flood, the school was supported by local forces including border guards, police and some people around the school to move some furniture and assets to the 2nd floor, while some other items and assets that could not be moved in time were swept away and damaged by the flood.
Specifically, the flood swept away the roof of the boarding house for students, cracked the walls, washed away the roofs of the toilets, washed away the roofs of the children's playgrounds, washed away the fences, swept away students' school supplies, soaked water, soaked mud, damaged the refrigerator, freezer and TV, computers...
According to Mr. Thao, floods have also caused many households of teachers at the school to have damaged, damaged houses, and lost some assets.
At the Head of the Ethnic Boarding School of My Ly 2 Primary School (My Ly Commune), the flood caused even more damage.
Mr. Tran Sy Ha - Principal of My Ly 2 Primary Boarding School for Ethnic Minorities - shared that after many floods, the school's 2-storey classrooms have never been flooded. Therefore, before this flood, the school moved assets, machinery, school supplies, records, books... to the 2nd floor and thought that would be safe.
However, right after the flood receded, Mr. Ha spent a day and a half riding a motorbike and walking through a series of landslides to get to school.
"As soon as I saw the school flooded with mud up to the 2nd floor, many rows of houses and properties were swept away, I could not hold back my tears," Mr. Ha shared.
According to Mr. Ha, the flood water this time was flooded from the 2nd floor to more than 1m, after the flood receded, mud and soil filled the school more than 3 meters high with thousands of cubic meters.
This historic flood swept away the roofs of a school building at the fourteenth level, swept away the roofs of student dormitories, swept away the roofs of public housing, swept away the roofs of cooking houses and swept away the roofs of toilets. All 12 televisions, 5 refrigerators, 22 computers for teaching, all tables and chairs of 7 classes; 1.7 tons of rice reserved for boarding students, books, personal items of the students and even blankets, cabinets... of boarding teachers were swept away and damaged.
"Yesterday the school cleared the mud for a day. Today, there are additional armed forces to support. The amount of mud was terrible! The school had to rent an excavator to move. "We don't know when we can finish cleaning up yet," said Mr. Ha, adding that the entire school campus with an area of 5,300m2 was covered with mud up to 3m high.
According to Mr. Ha, floods have caused severe damage to many teachers at the school. Of which, 3 teachers were swept away and had their houses lost, 4 teachers had their houses damaged and had their assets washed away.
Xa Luong Secondary School (Tuong Duong Commune) was also severely affected, with 9 classrooms, 4 TVs, 2 computers for desks, 2 printers, all school desks and chairs and documents soaked in water for many days. In addition, books, personal belongings of students and blankets, bed sheets, and personal belongings of teachers and boarding students were also completely damaged.
Ms. Nguyen Thi Kim Dung - Vice Principal of Xa Luong Secondary School shared that being invested by the Party and the State, Xa Luong Secondary School in a difficult mountainous commune but meeting national standards is very proud. However, the recent flood caused heavy damage, and the school is in need of a huge amount of funding to restore and reinvest in shopping.
Need for cooperation to restore
Mr. Tran Gia Thao - Principal of Muong Tap 2 Ethnic Boarding School shared that after the flood, he focused on clearing mud and soil, and he also contacted the People's Committee of Muong Tap commune to request attention to allocating funds for the school to soon re-roof the rows of houses with fallen roofs, and purchase some additional equipment and teaching aids, however, the commune was in difficulty and had many damaged works, so there was no source to arrange.
"There is less than a month left until the new school year but the school has suffered heavy damage and is in a mess! Hopefully, many organizations, individuals, and philanthropists will support and help the school have a part of the budget to prioritize overcoming important immediate items to welcome students back to school in time, said Mr. Thao.
After the flood and heavy damage, Mr. Tran Sy Ha - Principal of My Ly 2 Ethnic Boarding School wrote an emotional letter calling on organizations, individuals, and communities to pay attention to helping the school recover after the flood.
Every sharing, whether it is a book, a set of tables and chairs, a warm blanket, a rice scale... is a great source of encouragement, a flame to rekindle faith and hope for students in the border area, according to Mr. Has emotional letter.
Many other schools in Nghe An province were also deeply flooded, causing heavy damage to facilities and teaching equipment. These days, with the help of armed forces, local authorities and people, teachers are focusing on clearing mud, cleaning the environment, and scooping up what is left over to prepare for the new school year in difficulty and deprivation.
The report of the Standing Office of the Steering Committee for Natural Disaster Prevention, Search and Rescue and Civil Defense of Nghe An province stated that as of 5:00 p.m. on July 28, the whole province had 7,088 houses that had collapsed, buried, or been completely washed away or damaged. Of which, 418 houses collapsed, were buried or completely washed away - mainly in My Ly commune (214 houses), Nhon Mai (67 houses), Tuong Duong (51 houses)... In addition, 5,430 houses were deeply flooded, had assets floating, and were severely damaged after the water receded; 1,240 houses had their roofs blown off and damaged, of which 97 houses were damaged over 70%.
In addition, there were damage to education, health, agriculture, forestry, and fishery, damage to roads, bridges, culverts, and broken electricity poles and telecommunication poles.
The flood caused 4 deaths and 4 injuries. Initial estimates show that the total damage in the province is up to VND3,390 billion, of which the heaviest are houses, people's assets VND1,471 billion) and traffic infrastructure VND1,390 billion).
The leader of the Department of Education and Training of Nghe An province said that there is still nearly a month left until the new school year, but the floods have caused damage to 38 schools in 18 communes of the province, many of which were deeply flooded and had their equipment washed away.
In that situation, the education sector has also launched a fundraising campaign to support the recovery of natural disasters and floods. At this time, it is necessary to have the cooperation, help, share and support of the whole country to help teachers and students in flooded areas stabilize soon and prepare for the new school year. In the long term, the Department will continue to call for resources to supplement facilities and equipment for schools severely affected by floods.
