Mekong Delta authorities are at a loss in their efforts to prevent landslides from recurring periodically, even after pumping thousands of billions of dong into preventive measures that now seem more or less hopeless, as households only scramble out of their homes when a landslide threatens their periphery.
The most recent landslide occurred along the Hau River Bank in Long Xuyen Town of An Giang Province. A 120 meter stretch of land slipped into the river, bringing down with it six houses and a factory. Tens of households had to immediately evacuate as a result.
Local authorities had issued a landslide threat along 400 meters of the Hau River bank area. Until that time, the provincial People’s Committee was focused on filling up eddies to prevent further landslides.
Tra Nien Bridge in Can Tho City was part of a landslide in 2010, pulling down with it five houses into the river and burying two people.
After two years, Can Tho City authorities began to temporarily repair the bridge at a cost of VND36 billion (US$1.7 million), only four million less than the total amount invested in the initial construction of the bridge.
Before local authorities built the Tra Nien Bridge, local people and experts had warned that the location of the bridge was unstable and landslide prone, but the project still went through.
According to statistics of provinces along Tien and Hau Rivers, 18 spots are losing 10 meters of land every year due to landslides, 37 spots are losing 5-10 meters and 26 spots are losing a little less than five meters every year.
Scientists have blamed landslides in the Mekong Delta for either high tides or turbulent water currents in the upper reaches.
Ca Mau Province is a typical example of landslides caused by high tides with 48 landslide spots along Ganh Hao, Cua Lon, Bo De and Song Doc Rivers. Dong Thap Province meanwhile usually suffers landslides due to turbulent currents from the upper reaches.
Tien Giang Province suffers both high tides and fast water currents with 40 landslide spots in its western districts.
According to scientists, the most effective measure to deal with landslides in the Mekong Delta is to set up a plan to adjust the water currents in rivers and canals.
An Giang Province has 52 river areas vulnerable to landslides. The worst landslide prone area is along 4.3 kilometers of Hau River in Long Xuyen Town.
The Department of Natural Resources and Environment in An Giang has put forward a project to adjust the water flow in the area at a total cost of VND2.4 trillion ($115 million).
However this is too expensive and also hard to implement across wide areas. As a result, scientists have proposed that localities regularly do surveys and mark out most susceptible areas.
Besides, they should have plans to evacuate people and their properties from danger zones and also prevent them from building houses along water bodies that only block the water current and put high pressure on river banks.
