The haunting in the hearts of the people
The terrible flash flood not only took the lives of many people, but also caused severe material damage, pushing many families into poverty.
For the family of Mr. Lo Van Doi (Muong Pon 1 village, Muong Pon commune), the fierce flood took away his son Lo Van Pieng (32 years old) and his 5-month-old granddaughter Lo Linh Dan, along with all the house and property of his son and daughter-in-law.
According to Mr. Doi, after getting married in early 2023, the young couple tried to open a small restaurant in Muong Pon 1 village to make a living. However, the dream of a bright future was suddenly swept away by the flood waters after just one fateful night.
Not long before, Mr. Doi's children had to borrow money from everywhere to build their own lives. Among them, there was a bank debt of 50 million VND and an additional nearly 100 million VND borrowed from relatives and siblings. "Now that we have lost our children and grandchildren, and only have our daughter-in-law left, we don't know how to pay off all this debt," Mr. Doi said.
Before the flash flood, many people still owed money for food from the restaurant, the amount amounted to tens of millions of dong, but now, all the records have been washed away by the flood. Now, the debt burden weighs heavily on the shoulders of the young woman.
In Muong Pon commune, the flash flood caused severe property damage to hundreds of families, who are now immersed in anxiety about debts and loans to rebuild their lives. Mr. Quang Van Han (Tin Toc village, Muong Pon commune) suffered indescribable pain when his newly completed stilt house was swept away less than a year ago.
“All our assets are gone, everything is gone. To have a 4-room stilt house completed by the end of 2023, my family had to borrow 50 million VND from the bank,” Mr. Han said in despair:
According to Mr. Han, the monthly bank interest of nearly 400,000 VND is already a burden. With the remaining debt and the deadline to pay it in 2025, he is really worried and does not know how to manage.
“In addition, my family still owes nearly 50 million VND in construction materials to build a house. Therefore, we hope the bank can consider and support my family by extending the debt and allowing us to borrow more capital, so that we have more time to stabilize and rebuild the house,” said Mr. Han.
Many families fall into poverty.
While helping her relatives harvest rice in the fields left behind by the flash floods, Ms. Lo Thi Chien (Muong Pon 2 village, Muong Pon commune) could not hide her anxiety: “My family lost an entire hectare of rice. Each crop, my family harvested about 120 bags of rice. Now, we don’t know where to get rice to eat.”
Not only did Ms. Chien’s family lose the entire rice crop, she also had to shoulder a debt of 10 million VND for fertilizer. Every year, Ms. Chien’s family and many other households in the mountainous region have to pay for fertilizer, and only pay back the debt when they harvest and sell the rice.
In difficult circumstances and poor health, Ms. Chien is even more worried because she still owes the bank 20 million VND and the loan will be due next year. "I have lung disease, I have to go to the hospital every 2-3 months, each hospital visit costs 2-3 million VND so I have to borrow money for treatment" - Ms. Chien said.
Mrs. Chien’s family situation is similar to that of many other households in Muong Pon commune. Many families have lost their livestock and poultry, causing great economic losses.
According to statistics from the People's Committee of Dien Bien district, the flash flood in Muong Pon commune buried and washed away 123 hectares of productive land. In particular, 66.5 hectares of land were buried and could not be recovered.
As previously reported by Lao Dong Newspaper, the heavy rain and flash flood occurred on the night of July 24 and early morning of July 25 in Muong Pon commune, leaving 7 people dead and missing. The flash flood also swept away dozens of houses, many collapsed and about 100 others were damaged.
