Life is turned upside down due to prolonged power outages and water shortages
Nearly half a month after the historic flood in mid-November, the lives of many residents at Ecohome Nhon Binh Social Housing Apartment (Quy Nhon Dong Ward, Gia Lai) were seriously disrupted when the power outage and water shortage lasted for a long time, but the recovery was slow.
According to residents, the flood on the night of November 18 to the morning of November 19 flooded the entire basement, paralyzing the electricity, water and elevator systems, and making daily activities almost "frozen". Many motorbikes, electric cars and cars parked in the tunnel have been flooded for many days and are severely damaged.
In response to the backlash from residents, the Apartment Management Board has taken action to overcome the situation. Up to now, domestic water has been connected but flows "very little", just enough for temporary use; elevators are pulled to work but only partially. The domestic electricity is still turned off, and the time of re-essence is unknown.
Ms. N.T.A.N (residing in Quy Nhon Dong ward) shared: "After the flood, the elevator stopped working, my elderly parents still had to take the stairs to the lobby to carry buckets of water up to use, it was very difficult. The water is just available but not clean, cannot be cooked. I have to regularly buy stream water to bring to my grandparents, which is both inconvenient and expensive."
Ms. M.T (35 years old, apartment resident) said that the whole family had to move their belongings to another temporary place, accepting to spend more money because they could not bear the situation of living in the dark, their daily activities were like " primitive times" for many days. "I only dare to move home when the water and elevator have just been reconnected," said Ms. M.T.
Ms. M.T was also upset because the 2 motorbikes parked under the tunnel were deeply flooded and severely damaged, the repair cost was up to nearly ten million VND.
"The apartment management board is too passive, not announcing or issuing loudspeakers to warn when the water begins to rise, so that residents can quickly move their vehicles up high to avoid damage. On the afternoon of November 18, some residents took their own vehicles but were stopped by the Management Board," Ms. M.T. reflected.
Residents requested the Management Board to urgently restore electricity for daily use, support the cost of repairing flooded vehicles and have a response plan to avoid repeating the incident.
The delay in power recovery is due to the process
Working with Lao Dong, Mr. Pham Tuan Anh - Head of the Management Board of Ecohome Nhon Binh Social Housing Apartment - said that the entire electrical system, fire protection, and domestic water tank located under the basement were deeply flooded in the flood, completely paralyzed.
Mr. Anh admitted that the power and water outage had seriously disrupted residents' lives. "After draining the water in the basement, the Management Board urgently reconnected the water system, but the power has not been restored. The connection of the power system must go through many steps such as spraying, drying, and testing the entire transformer station. Only when the electricity agency confirms safety is it allowed to repair and connect, so it will take a long time," said Mr. Anh.
Explaining the delay in the repair, Mr. Anh said that the Management Board is only allowed to decide to spend less than 50 million VND from the maintenance fund. After-flood recovery items with greater value must be approved by over 50% of residents, which takes a lot of time. Currently, residents have agreed and the Management Board is implementing remedial steps.
"The basement was completely flooded, causing about 100 motorbikes, electric bicycles and 2 cars to be flooded and damaged. The Management Board is making statistics and reporting to the investor and related units to consider supporting residents," said Mr. Anh.
Mr. Le Nguyen Thanh Danh - Director of Ecohome Nhon Binh Social Housing Apartment - said that the entire 2 flooded buildings have been handed over to the Board of Directors in 2024, including the maintenance fund, so they are no longer the responsibility of the investor. Currently, these buildings have also expired.
According to Mr. Danh, this incident was an force majeure situation due to natural disasters - under the exclusion clause. The restoration of household electricity depends on the experimental results of Gia Lai Power Company and the progress of the repair unit.
After the experimental results were available, the Management Board had to sign a contract with the contractor and bear all repair costs, because the building had expired and the maintenance fund had been handed over.
"The tunnel is an item of the building and has been handed over to the Management Board. We are only in charge of services and utilities, and do not have the function of repairing or compensating. Therefore, the consideration of supporting vehicle damage due to flooding is the responsibility of the Management Board, beyond the capacity of the Management Board", Mr. Danh informed.
