People in flood-hit provinces struggle to piece together severely disrupted lives. (Photo: VNA)
Yen Bai (VNA) – As people in flood-hit
provinces struggle to piece together severely disrupted lives, local
authorities are calling out for urgent help to deal with major damage suffered
by dykes, irrigation works and other construction projects.
After the floodwaters receded, like hundreds of
families in Hat Luu commune, the seven-member family of Hoang Thi Quy are lost.
“It’s a disaster. My family spent thousands of
hours working on 5,000sq.metres of rice. But we’ve lost everything,” Quy said.
“There is nothing left. Now we have to pin hopes
on the next crop, if the irrigation works are repaired soon,” she said.
Local administrations have been carrying out several measures
to help people overcome the flood’s consequences and restore production.
They are giving top priority to repair damaged
irrigation works and provide water for people and crops.
Lo Van Chien, Chairman of Hat Luu commune’s People’s
Committee, said they were only able to restore irrigation works that had
suffered slight damage. The severely damaged works needed financial
assistance from the central government, either for major repairs or building
new ones, he said.
Pham Minh Quang, Director of Nghia Van Company
Ltd, which manages irrigation works in Yen Bai’s Van Chan, Tram Tau and Mu Cang
Chai districts as well as the Nghia Lo town, said that so far they had repaired
50 works that were slightly damaged, but another 65 works needed financial
support from the province.
In Thanh Hoa province, residents of Thach Dinh commune
in Thach Thanh district returned home 10 days after they were evacuated to find
that most or all of their property and/or crops had been swept away.
Nguyen Thi Hao of the commune’s Tien Thanh village
said her family had harvested just four of 9ha of their rice crop before the
floodwaters came. However, the harvested rice had sprouted because they’d not
been dried.
Pham Lam Dong, Secretary of the commune’s Party Committee,
said the floods had destroyed 15ha of rice crops and 30ha of vegetables and
killed thousands of heads of cattle and poultry. Hundreds of houses and dikes
were severely damaged.
The local administration has instructed relevant
offices and people to clean wells and ensure water for daily lives and
agricultural production as well as prevent from disease outbreak.
Some 150 families in the central province of Ha Tinh
were isolated for a week after the only bridge that connected them to the rest
of the world fell into the floodwaters.
Earlier last week, part of the Khe Buom Bridge in
the province’s Huong Tho commune in mountainous Vu Quang district also
collapsed. The broken bridge has kept 150 households away from their daily
activities of farming and trading.
Nguyen Hung Cuong, Vice Chairman of the commune’s
People’s Committee, said local authorities had submitted a report to
district authorities, asking for funds to repair the bridge, which had been
sponsored by Hong Kong Oxfam in 2001.
He said nearly 800 families of the province will
get funds from local authorities to construct flood-resistant houses.
The provincial People’s Committee has decided to
fund 776 families in flood-prone areas to build houses that can withstand
floods. Of these 550 houses will be newly built and the remaining will undergo
proper repairs.
Residents of Vu Quang, Duc Tho, Huong Son, Huong
Khe, Can Loc, Cam Xuyen, Ky Anh, Thach Ha and Loc Ha districts, will benefit
from the fund, which has thus far accumulated a total of 23 billion VND (over 1
million USS) from the local budget and private sponsors.
Poor households and under-privileged families who
are social welfare recipients will benefit from the fund, which requires them
to build house foundations higher than peak floodwater levels in the region.
Dang Ngoc Son, Vice Chairman of the provincial
People’s Committee, said the fund will help minimise the loss of lives and
property in lowland areas. He said the fund allocation is part of the
province’s sustainable poverty elimination policy. The money will be disbursed to residents late this
month, with a request to complete works before August 2018.
On
October 23, power supply was restored to 57 households of My Duc and Chuong My
districts in Hanoi after 10 days.-VNA