More than 3 months have passed since the sludge dam collapse of Bac Kan Non-ferrous Metals Branch in Ban Thi commune (Cho Don district), and the work to overcome the consequences is still being focused on.
Since the incident, the company has stopped all production activities, collected sludge, coordinated with authorities to count and pay compensation to affected households.
According to the report on the response and remediation results of the tailings dam incident No. 1 of the Bac Kan Non-ferrous Metals Branch, as of early December 2024, the total amount of support disbursed to households was nearly 7.3 billion VND.
In Ban Thi commune (Cho Don district), 31 households were affected, including 3 families with damaged houses, 27 families with damaged agricultural land, and 1 family with damaged means of transport. Over 2.6 billion VND has been paid to 31 households.
In Yen Thinh commune (Cho Don district), there are 131 households that suffered damage to agricultural land and crops, with compensation paid of over 1.6 billion VND.
In Binh Phu commune (Chiem Hoa district, Tuyen Quang), 159 households suffered damage to agriculture and crops, of which 42 households were flooded and 117 households were flooded with sludge. Up to now, 117/117 households have been compensated for the damage, with a total amount of over 2.9 billion VND.
Having lost everything after the dam collapse, Ms. Nguyen Thi Hoa (Cho Don district) hopes that with the compensation she just received, she can rebuild her life. More than 1,000 square meters of crops were almost completely destroyed by the spill of sludge in September, and she has to start over from scratch.
"It was an unexpected incident so we had to accept it. After the dam broke, the company also coordinated with the authorities to clean up the mud that spilled into the environment and people's crops.
Now that we have received compensation, we will use it to cover our living expenses and restore the affected crop areas for cultivation in the following seasons. Hopefully, the incident will not leave any lasting consequences. Thanks to focusing on overcoming the consequences, people have begun to stabilize their lives," Ms. Hoa confided.
On December 23, speaking with Lao Dong Newspaper, Mr. Dang Dinh Phong - Vice Chairman of Cho Don District People's Committee said that since the dam burst, the authorities have coordinated with the company to fix the problem and clean up the sludge. At the same time, they have focused on statistics and counting to support and compensate affected households to soon stabilize their lives.
Previously, as Lao Dong reported, the sludge dam of Bac Kan Non-ferrous Metals Branch broke in Ban Thi commune (Cho Don district). The incident caused more than 1,000 tons of lead-zinc ore sludge to spill into the environment, affecting hundreds of households in Tuyen Quang and Bac Kan provinces.
Immediately after the incident, hundreds of workers and machinery were mobilized to clean up the sludge.
