Unforeseen danger
In the last days of the year, the whole family of Ms. Le Thi Doan (Ca Dong ethnic group) in Na No residential area, Gia Cao village, Phuoc Gia commune, Hiep Duc district, Quang Nam province hurriedly prepared to celebrate Tet in anxiety.
“Since the news of the mountain cracking, the authorities have urged people to evacuate to schools and community houses for temporary shelter. I hope the province and district will soon find a way to resolve the cracks so that people can return to their villages to live and work,” said Ms. Doan.
Previously, a large crack appeared on the hill behind Na No village, with a length of more than 30m, a radius of 10m, and a depth of over 1m, threatening the safety of life and property of the entire village. Quang Nam authorities declared an emergency and urgently evacuated all 30 households with 163 people to a shelter.
This is the first time that Na No village, which was formed nearly 20 years ago, has fallen into a state of “empty houses and gardens”. Notably, in 2019, this residential area was invested in and built to arrange and stabilize the population, but now it continues to suffer serious landslides.
Mr. Nguyen Thanh Liem - Chairman of Phuoc Gia Commune People's Committee said that Hiep Duc district previously allocated more than 1 billion VND to build embankments and reinforce the Na No hilltop area. However, the recent consecutive rains have led to waterlogging of the soil, causing long-term cracks.
“With just a few more heavy rains, thousands of cubic meters of rock and soil will fall on this village at any time. Therefore, immediately after checking and discovering the crack, the commune resolutely evacuated all 163 people to a safe place,” said the leader of Phuoc Gia commune.
According to Quang Nam's natural disaster prevention project, the whole province has up to 93 high-risk areas for landslides, with thousands of households living there, mainly in mountainous areas. However, in the rainy season at the end of 2024, new and unusual landslides have appeared. To date, at least 4 villages with nearly 1,000 people have been urgently evacuated.
Haunted landslide
More than 4 years have passed since the horrific landslide in Tra Leng (Nam Tra My, Quang Nam) that left dozens of people dead and missing, but the trauma is still evident on the face of Ms. Ho Thi Hieu (local) - who lost 3 family members in this landslide.
“Floods, rocks, soil, water, all came down from the top of the hill and buried the family of four. I ran out in panic, but my relatives and children were buried in the rubble. Until now, I can hardly sleep deeply every time there is heavy rain,” Ms. Hieu recalled.
Tak Chay village, Tra Cang commune, Nam Tra My district was not on the list of places to be relocated due to the impact of floods and rains, but reality has shown the complex and unpredictable developments of natural disasters. After just one rainy night at the end of 2024, the authorities were forced to urgently implement a plan to arrange new housing for 33 households/170 people.
Ms. Ho Thi Diep hurried back up the slope to Tak Chay village to collect the few remaining belongings and begin the reconstruction. Before her eyes, the entire Xo Dang village, which had been peaceful for many years, leaning against the mountain, was now reduced to ruins and desolation. Houses and trees were lying scattered about. There was a long crack running along the ground right behind the kitchen.
“The heavy rain made people shiver and stay up all night, not daring to sleep. At around 2am, a landslide occurred. Luckily, we were able to evacuate in time,” Ms. Diep recounted.
“Through inspection and survey of the landslide sites and upstream, the district’s disaster prevention force discovered many cracks and fractures. All residents on the emergency evacuation list have been relocated to safe temporary housing. The locality is carrying out two tasks in parallel: ensuring the lives and property of the people and implementing the construction of the new residential area that was previously planned,” said Mr. Tran Van Man, Vice Chairman of the Nam Tra My District People’s Committee.
However, the most difficult problem for the communes now is that as the rain gets heavier, new landslides have appeared, beyond local predictions.
In the face of the continuous earthquakes that have shaken the mountainous areas of Quang Nam recently, Mr. Tran Duy Dung - Chairman of the People's Committee of Nam Tra My district said that the district is very worried about the complicated earthquake situation.
According to the Institute of Geophysics, on November 30, 2024, Kon Plong district, Kon Tum province, experienced 6 earthquakes. Nam Tra My district, which is adjacent to Kon Plong district, was greatly affected by aftershocks and landslides, causing many large rocks on high hills to roll down to Tu Hon village, village 3, Tra Don commune, this district. Photo: Dinh Vuong
“We also want to ask scientific agencies to research and somehow predict earthquakes in advance so that people can proactively prevent and minimize damage, ensuring people’s lives and property. But currently, we mainly respond after they happen,” said Mr. Dung.
