Housing for people in flood-prone areas

Finding ways to alleviate the constant worry of flooding among residents in riverside areas is a pressing issue for Hanoi .

The time has come… and I'm worried again.

Many days have passed, but Mr. Le Van On (Nhan Ly village, Nam Phuong Tien commune, Chuong My district) still hasn't forgotten the memory of the nearly month-long flooding that occurred in early September 2024. The man, who has spent his entire life by the Bui River, said that almost every year, the people here are affected by floods, but it's been a long time since the flooding was so deep and prolonged.

Like Nhan Ly village, hundreds of hamlets in 11 other communes of Chuong My district were submerged in water for weeks on end due to the rising water level of the Bui River. According to Le Hoai Thi, Chairman of the People's Committee of Hoang Van Thu commune, along with damaged belongings and swept-away livestock, hundreds of hectares of rice fields belonging to local farmers were completely destroyed by prolonged flooding.

Tan Tien commune, Chuong My district, Hanoi, was severely flooded during the September 2024 floods. Photo: Tai Hiep

Not only in Chuong My district, but also in the riverside areas of Quoc Oai district, especially in the five communes of Can Huu, Phu Cat, Liep Tuyet, Tuyet Nghia, and Dong Yen, people are experiencing constant anxiety due to flooding. Ms. Dinh Thi Ninh from Can Ha village (Can Huu commune, Quoc Oai district) sadly recounted that her family had to flee the floods twice in the past month. Their house was flooded, making it impossible to go anywhere or do anything; they didn't even know how to send their children to school. What the people here are experiencing is the most severe in many years.

Previously, in late July and early August 2024, the water levels of the Bui and Tich rivers rose above alarm level III for several days, causing flooding in thousands of households in riverside communes in the two districts of Chuong My and Quoc Oai. These two floods, occurring in just over a month, mark the fourth time in the last 15 years that residents of dozens of communes along the Bui and Tich rivers in Chuong My and Quoc Oai districts have had to "live with floodwaters" every rainy season.

Previously, thousands of households living along the Bui and Tich rivers still vividly remember the severe flooding during the heavy rains of 2008, October 2017, and July 2018. Not only did this significantly impact the stability of life for riverside residents, but the fear of flooding also disrupted socio -economic development activities.

Initial efforts

According to Nguyen Duy Du, head of the Hanoi Department of Irrigation and Disaster Prevention, the flooding in Chuong My and Quoc Oai districts is considered a consequence of two factors: prolonged heavy rainfall over a wide area and the impact of flash floods from Luong Son district (Hoa Binh province) and Ba Vi district (Hanoi city). To minimize flood damage in the flood-prone Chuong My district, the city is assigning the Hanoi Infrastructure and Agriculture Investment Project Management Board to implement four projects to renovate and upgrade the irrigation system serving drainage along the Bui River.

Specifically, these include the Nhan Ly drainage pumping station (Nam Phuong Tien commune), the Dam Buom drainage pumping station (Tran Phu commune), the My Ha drainage pumping station, and the My Thuong drainage pumping station (both in Huu Van commune). The total investment cost for the construction of these four pumping stations is nearly 200 billion VND.

According to Tran Anh Tu, Head of the Irrigation Project Management Department (Hanoi Infrastructure and Agricultural Construction Investment Project Management Board), the projects are still being actively completed. Nevertheless, during the two recent severe floods, all pumping stations were operational to support flood control in the Bui River area and maintained their designed capacity.

Regarding drainage and flood control along the Tich River, the immediate solution being implemented by the Hanoi Agricultural and Rural Development Works Maintenance Board is to reinforce both banks of the Tich River in Ba Vi District. The project is likely to be completed by the end of this year (2024) and is expected to ensure drainage and flood control for the Tich River basin, preventing flooding in riverside localities, especially in Quoc Oai District.

According to our findings, due to the frequent flooding caused by "floodwater runoff," the Hanoi Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, in coordination with several specialized research institutes, organized a working group to meet directly with the relevant agencies in Hoa Binh province to discuss solutions. Ideas such as building reservoirs and canal systems to reduce "floodwater runoff," or comprehensively upgrading the Bui River dike system, have been mentioned by experts, management agencies, and scientists. However, a fundamental solution to this problem remains elusive.

Fundamental solution

Persistent flooding not only significantly impacts the livelihoods of riverside residents but also disrupts socio-economic development activities. Therefore, finding a fundamental, long-term solution to enhance the flood resilience of the Bui and Tich river systems is a matter of paramount importance and cannot be delayed.

According to Nguyen Dinh Hoa, Deputy Director of the Hanoi Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, the Tich and Bui river basins have many low-lying areas compared to the river surface; in fact, some riverside villages in Chuong My district are up to 8 meters lower than the river surface, leading to flooding whenever it rains.

“People have settled and lived in these areas for generations. Every time a flash flood comes from the forest, causing the river water to rise, it leads to flooding. People cannot live peacefully, and it greatly affects their lives and production…” - Mr. Nguyen Dinh Hoa, who once served as Chairman of the People's Committee of Chuong My District, observed.

According to a representative from the Hanoi Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, in the long term, relevant departments, agencies, and localities (including the two districts of Chuong My and Quoc Oai) need to review and study solutions for relocating residents in areas prone to flooding that are difficult to overcome; and implement resettlement plans to move people, houses, and structures to higher areas that are not susceptible to flooding.

Hanoi will report to the Government to study the relocation of residents and investment in upgrading the dike system to meet planning criteria. At the same time, authorities will also study other solutions including dredging, removing obstacles to ensure flood drainage, building an early flood warning and monitoring system, and cooperating with neighboring provinces along the Day, Bui, and Tich rivers.

Representatives from the Hanoi Department of Agriculture and Rural Development also provided further information, stating that the Hanoi City Flood and Storm Prevention Plan is currently integrated into the district-level regional planning until 2030, with a vision to 2050; and into the Capital City Planning until 2045, with a vision to 2065. Once approved by the Government, it will be integrated with flood prevention and control in riverside districts, including Chuong My and Quoc Oai districts; thereby focusing on investment and minimizing the impact on the lives of people in flood-prone areas.

 

According to Pham Quoc Tuyen, Deputy Director of the Hanoi Department of Planning and Architecture, the city is currently submitting to the competent authorities the capital's planning documents, which include an integrated detailed plan for flood prevention and control of rivers in Hanoi, to provide a basis for implementation in the next phase.

The recent high water levels in the Bui and Tich rivers are partly due to sedimentation. Besides riverbed sedimentation, irrigation reservoirs, which are used to slow and regulate floods, are also heavily silted up due to years of neglect, reducing their storage capacity and their ability to mitigate flash floods on these rivers.

Director of the Irrigation Development Investment Enterprise of Chuong My District
Do Viet Dung

Source: https://kinhtedothi.vn/an-cu-cho-nguoi-dan-vung-lu.html