Wearing masks indoors, leaves, flowers change color due to dust
The house of Mr. Nguyen Xuan Thanh's family (Nhi Ha village, Cua Viet commune, Quang Tri province) is only one rice field away from the construction area of the Quang Tri airport project. For about 1 week now, the weather has appeared with intense heat accompanied by strong winds, pushing dust from the construction site rolling up like a "storm" sweeping straight into the house. At times, dust is so thick that visibility is limited.
Ms. Tran Thi Hang (Mr. Thanh's wife) sadly said that her two young grandchildren in the house had to be rushed to her parents' house for "evacuation". "If they stayed and inhaled this dust, they would definitely get sick and cough violently. During the day, the 5 adults in the house always had to wear masks tightly even when sitting in the house to avoid breathing out of the dust," Ms. Hang complained.
Pointing to the patch of trees and rice fields behind the house, Ms. Hang angrily said that the green leaves covering the thick layer of dust have completely changed color, the grapefruit trees bearing many fruits that were green suddenly put on a "ground-colored" coat, and the rice leaves are also gray.
When constructing a large project, we have to accept the impact, but this dense dust makes the air suffocating, so we can't survive. If there is no way to reduce dust, we will probably just leave home and stay, otherwise we will sooner or later get sick," Ms. Hang said.
A similar situation also occurred at Mrs. Nguyen Thi Binh's house opposite Ms. Hang's house. Although every night before going to bed, Mrs. Binh would wipe the house with wet water many times and then close the door tightly, but in the morning she would sweep a handful of dust. After wiping, by noon, the "dust storm" again flooded in, covering from the yard to the inside of the house. The sesame garden she planted next door was also covered with gray dust.
Living with dust for months, but these days the dust is unbearable. Clothes that are washed and dried outdoors are even dirtier than when they were not washed, white clothes become dull immediately, when dried and shaken strongly, dust flies out of the whole layer," Ms. Binh shared.
Even eateries and beverage shops a few hundred meters from the construction area, such as those of Ms. Ngo Thi Bong (Nhi Ha village), have to endure a scene of few customers because no one wants to sit and eat in a dusty space. Ms. Bong's newborn baby has also been sent to a relative's house elsewhere to avoid dust.
Immediately implement dust reduction measures
The situation of "dust storms" spreading from the Quang Tri Airport project construction site is not new but has been happening since the beginning of June 2026 and has been reported by Lao Dong Newspaper. Cua Viet Commune People's Committee has received feedback from people many times and continuously requested the construction unit to have watering solutions to reduce dust, but the situation has not improved at all.
Talking to Lao Dong Newspaper, Mr. Le Van Thong - Chairman of Cua Viet Commune People's Committee said that he had directly inspected the field and recorded that every time there is strong wind, dust from the airport project flares up, affecting people's lives. Mr. Thong said that the locality has requested all levels and sectors to have radical solutions to overcome this situation, and this situation cannot be allowed to drag on.
On July 15, Quang Tri Provincial People's Committee issued a document directing relevant units to strengthen environmental protection in the Quang Tri Airport Construction Project area. This request was made after the Department of Agriculture and Environment had environmental quality monitoring results in the project area. Quang Tri Provincial People's Committee directed the Provincial Construction Investment Project Management Board and Quang Tri Airport Co., Ltd. to fully and seriously implement environmental protection regulations according to the approved environmental impact assessment report.
According to the Quang Tri Provincial Department of Construction, on July 21, the Department of Construction went to inspect and requested relevant units to immediately implement measures to reduce dust.
The Quang Tri airport project has a total investment of more than 5,800 billion VND. According to the decision approving the investor selection results of the Quang Tri Provincial People's Committee, the investor implementing component project 2 (building an airport) of the Quang Tri airport project is the Joint Venture of T&T Infrastructure Investment and Development Co., Ltd. (a member of T&T Group) and CIENCO 4 Group Joint Stock Company. Currently, the project is accelerating construction progress.
