Six out of the 45 households have been relocated from dangerous areas in Khan Lan village in northern mountainous Bac Kan province’s Pac Nam district, one of the hardest hit locations by recent rains and floods.

Heavy rains in Bac Kan and some other localities such as Yen Bai, Dien Bien and Tuyen Quang had also destroyed 588ha of rice fields and many other infrastructure systems and farming facilities. (Photo: VNN)

According to local Party Committee Secretary Nguyen Van Du, these households would be temporarily moved to the district’s Phieng Luong village. They and the remaining 39 households would be given a 40-60sq.m house worth VND60 million (US$3,300) each, he said.

As reported, there had been 13 deaths in the district, and tens of homes were destroyed by the recent floods. Du said that the main reason behind the huge losses of human lives and homes was poor infrastructure and a general lack of information.

“We didn’t even receive the flood forecast released by the National Centre for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasts,” he said.

“Additionally, there’s no loudspeaker system here. We have no other option than to warn people of natural disasters by word of mouth.”

The district’s Steering Committee on Storm and Flood Prevention always had a team ready 24 hours a day to cope with sudden disasters; however, Du said, local infrastructure, especially the loudspeaker system, required vast improvements.

Deputy director of the National Centre for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasts Le Thanh Hai said that the centre had sent the flood forecasts to all mass media agencies nationwide, and had also posted it on their website.

“Legally, we fulfilled our responsibility,” he said, “But if we had called all steering committees to inform them of the dangerous floods, perhaps then things wouldn’t have been so bad.”

Hai said that the centre would ask forecasters to send official documents on disasters to all relevant agencies immediately after receiving their weather reports.

According to the latest report on the losses caused by the floods, released by the Central Steering Committee on Storm and Flood Prevention, as of yesterday, the floods that hit Bac Kan and other northern mountainous provinces like Cao Bang, Son La, Lao Cai, Ha Giang and Lai Chau had caused 20 deaths, 14 missing and four injured.

Heavy rains in Bac Kan and some other localities such as Yen Bai, Dien Bien and Tuyen Quang had also destroyed 588ha of rice fields and many other infrastructure systems and farming facilities.

VietNamNet/Viet Nam News