Sea dykes and river banks are "eaten" deep
Previously, the Vinh Dinh river bank was about 30m from the wall of Mr. Luong Tan's house (residing in Van Hoa village, Trieu Hoa commune, Trieu Phong district, Quang Tri province). But over time, especially after the floods in late October and early November, the river bank has been severely eroded.
“Recently, in early November, there was heavy rain for 2 days, the river water rose, the riverbank behind the house started to erode. Then I heard a loud bang, ran out to see the banana row behind the house had been swept away into the river,” Mr. Tan recounted.
After the landslide, the riverbank was only about 3m away from the kitchen wall of Mr. Tan's house. Observations showed that the water had eaten deep, creating a frog's jaw underneath, so the landslide of the Vinh Dinh riverbank through Team 3 in Van Hoa village will continue. Therefore, every time it rains, Mr. Tan and his wife cannot sleep well, worrying that the wall of their house will be "eaten" by the river.
A few hundred meters from Mr. Tan's house, the shop of Ms. Tran Thi Kieu (Van Hoa village) is also threatened by landslides on the Vinh Dinh River. Next to Ms. Kieu's shop, part of the land used for growing crops, bananas, coconuts, and papayas was washed away into the river after storm No. 6. "The flood is not yet big, but the landslides are getting more and more serious. Since the embankment was built on the other side, this side has been eroding heavily," said Ms. Kieu.
The Vinh Dinh River section alone, which passes through Trieu Hoa commune, is about 5km long and currently has many landslides with a length of about 1,000m. Nearly 100 households in Team 1, Team 2, Team 3, Team 4 of Van Hoa village have houses along the river and next to landslides, of which 20 households are directly affected.
In addition to Vinh Dinh River, affected by storm No. 6 in late October 2024, the coastline in Gio Hai commune (Gio Linh district, Quang Tri province) was hit by waves, causing serious erosion. In this commune alone, about 5km of sea dike was eroded from 15 to 20m. The waves hit deep into the shore, causing the rows of casuarina trees in the protective forest right at the sea dike to be knocked down...
The storm has not been heavy yet but has had a serious impact, urgent repair is needed
In Quang Tri province, there are currently more than 130km of riverbanks and coastal areas that have suffered erosion and have not been repaired, including 30km of especially dangerous erosion and more than 70km of dangerous erosion.
The banks of Hieu, Thach Han, and Ben Hai rivers are eroding very quickly, each year 10-15m deeper into the bank, causing nearly 1,000 households living near the riverbank to feel anxious and lose their productive land. Many landslide areas directly affect and cause insecurity to the infrastructure system, including traffic routes, dykes, and other cultural works.
Since 2018, Quang Tri province has mobilized resources to invest in the construction of more than 66km of embankments to prevent landslides along river banks and coastlines with a total cost of more than VND 872 billion. However, due to limited and untimely capital allocation, investment in upgrading and repairing has not been synchronized and sustainable. Currently, Quang Tri province needs more than VND 1,200 billion to construct embankments to prevent landslides on river banks and coastlines in areas with particularly dangerous and dangerous landslides, but the local budget is difficult and has not been arranged.
Mr. Le Quang Lam - Chief of Office of the Steering Committee for Natural Disaster Prevention and Search and Rescue of Quang Tri province said that the landslides on riverbanks and coastal areas in the locality are serious and have been increasing after recent storms. Therefore, funding is needed to urgently repair serious landslides to avoid loss of life and property.
