VietNamNet Bridge - Landslides are occurring in many localities in Mekong River Delta, though the rainy season has just begun. Ten serious landslide cases have occurred in Ca Mau, Hau Giang and Can Tho in the last two weeks.

Landslides are occurring in many localities

Hundreds of local households have been told to evacuate. But many residents are staying in their houses because they have nowhere to go.

“The landslides in the Mekong Delta no longer follow natural law. We need to give warnings about this to people,” said Duong Van Ni from the Can Tho University.

In early May, the leaders of 13 provinces in Mekong Delta met to hear reports about landslides that are threatening the lives of hundreds of thousands of people. 

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) reported that riverbank landslide and coastal erosion in the Mekong Delta has increased in both sphere and scale.

Currently, there are 562 riverbank and coast positions suffering from landslides, with a total length of 786 kilometers. These include 42 dangerous landslide positions with total length of 149 kilometers which need urgent treatment to ensure safety for people’s lives and properties. 

It is estimated that VND6.990 trillion is needed to build embankments and dykes and remove people from erosion-stricken areas. 

In general, a huge amount of capital is needed to implement the program ‘living with floods’, ‘living with salinity’, and ‘living with landslides’ in the country’s rice, fruit and seafood granary.

After the conference, the PM agreed to allocate VND1.5 trillion from the state budget to the Mekong Delta to treat the landslide areas.

Experts have advised local authorities and residents to be more cautious when building houses along canals and rivers. Despite the large-scale landslides, people still like building houses on riverbanks. 

Nearly all the bustling markets and urban areas in Mekong Delta are located near rivers, from Can Tho to Long Xuyen, from Vinh Long to Vi Thanh.

Because of the tradition of setting up houses near roads and rivers, Mekong Delta has had to pay a heavy price. Trillions of dong worth of houses and people’s lives have been lost because of landslides and rising water levels.

It is estimated that thousands of houses in coastal areas and along riverbanks have disappeared in the last 10 years. Most recently, seven houses fell into the river in a landslide in O Mon on May 21, while 14 other houses partially collapsed. The accident caused damages worth VND30 billion.

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Thanh Mai