Landslide warning and fundamental solutions - Part 1: Landslides surround

In Dong Thap, where the Tien River winds through many residential areas, landslides are occurring more and more frequently, sweeping away land and houses, causing great damage to property, directly affecting people's lives and livelihoods. Faced with increasingly complex landslides, the Dong Thap provincial government has been implementing many emergency response solutions, while also orienting fundamental and sustainable steps to protect the safety of people, infrastructure and agricultural production along the river. The series of 2 articles "Landslide warning and fundamental solutions" reflects the overall situation of serious landslides in Dong Thap province, while acknowledging the efforts and solutions of the locality in overcoming, preventing and managing natural disaster risks in the coming period.

Photo caption — The landslide area on the Tien River bank on the evening of October 13, 2025, at Tan Quoi Hamlet, Tan Long Commune ( Dong Thap Province). Photo: Nhut An/VNA

Lesson 1: Landslides surround

In just 10 months of 2025, the entire Dong Thap province recorded more than 150 landslides on river banks and canals with a total length of nearly 20 km, causing heavy damage to property and threatening the safety of people's lives. Many areas that used to be fertile alluvial areas have now become "black spots" of serious landslides.

From the Tien and Hau rivers to the canals in the fields, landslides not only deform the terrain, sweep away houses and gardens, but also make people live in constant insecurity. This situation shows the alarming level of geological changes, water flow as well as the consequences of uncontrolled production and construction activities in recent years.

Heavy damage

Upstream of the Tien River, at the Thuong Thoi Tien embankment area (Thuong Phuoc commune, Dong Thap province), there used to be alluvial soil. However, this is now a serious landslide area. Roughly estimated over the past 2 months, in the Thuong Thoi Tien embankment area, landslides and subsidence have occurred in 7 sections with a total length of more than 480 m, causing the embankment slope to collapse, the curb to collapse, and deep into the roadway.

Thuong Thoi Tien Embankment belongs to the Project "Management and mitigation of drought and flood risks in the Greater Mekong Subregion", with a total length of 4,065 m, divided into 3 phases with a budget of hundreds of billions of VND. Of which, phase 1 is 2,765 m long, completed acceptance and put into use in March 2017; phase 2 is 460 m long and phase 3 is 840 m long, both completed acceptance and put into use in October 2019.

Recently, on the evening of October 13, in Tan Quoi hamlet, Tan Long commune (Dong Thap province), a landslide occurred on the bank of the Tien River. Although it did not cause any human casualties, it destroyed about 600 square meters of land and some property. According to the Civil Defense Command of Tan Long commune, this landslide on the bank of the Tien River was 30 meters long, about 20 meters deep into the bank, causing a temporary house (kitchen) and some crops such as tamarind, crab, bamboo, mango... to be submerged in the Tien River. Currently, there are 11 households with more than 40 people living in the landslide area.

Mr. Tran Van Ham in Tan Quoi Hamlet, Tan Long Commune said that the landslide right behind his house caused the kitchen (where cooking is done) to collapse into the Tien River. For about 3 years now, the area where Mr. Ham lives has had many landslides. In 2024, his family's fish pond collapsed into the Tien River, and this year the kitchen continued to collapse.

Previously, more than 500 meters from Mr. Ham's house, there was also a landslide on the Tien River bank. Now, this area looks desolate, the solid houses have almost all sunk into the Tien River. The homeowner tried to collect and dismantle what was left (main door, windows, corrugated iron roof...). "Three years ago, my house was about 30 meters from the Tien River. But the landslide attacked close to the house, I had to move the house forward to "escape the landslide". But now, the house has been moved close to the traffic road. If the landslide continues, I don't know where to go", Mr. Nguyen Thanh Dien in Thuong Hamlet, Tan Long Commune shared.

Downstream of the Tien River, the situation of riverbank erosion is also very complicated. Due to the influence of heavy rain, rapid flood rise combined with the large number of waterway vehicles passing by, on September 20 and September 24, the Tien River bank area at Nguyen Huong Street (Tan Tich Hamlet and Tinh Hung Hamlet, Cao Lanh Ward) experienced landslides with a total length of about 500 m, going deep into the mainland about 30 - 70 m. Although the landslide did not cause any human casualties, it damaged the property of 35 households, with houses and land collapsing into the Tien River. The remaining section of about 1,600 m in length is at risk of further landslides at any time, affecting the safety of life and property of about 285 households with over 900 people.

Chairman of Cao Lanh Ward People's Committee Bui Quoc Nam said that immediately after the landslide occurred, the Ward People's Committee directed the relevant agencies to support people in evacuating their assets and belongings and mobilized some households in the vicinity, in areas with high risk of landslides to raise vigilance and proactively respond. Along with that, the locality mobilized businesses and philanthropists to promptly support affected households. In the coming time, the Ward People's Committee will study policy solutions according to legal regulations to provide the best support for households affected by landslides, soon stabilizing their lives.

Identify the cause

Mr. Nguyen Duc Thinh, Deputy Director of the Department of Agriculture and Environment of Dong Thap province, said that the cause of landslides in the province is rapid, with many landslides and serious levels compared to the previous period. Through scientific reports and practices, the basic causes leading to coastal and riverbank erosion have been identified.

Regarding the erosion of Tien and Hau rivers, the main cause of erosion in the province is the impact of the flow force on the channel with a weak geological structure, causing erosion. Erosion often occurs in areas of islands and where the river branches, the confluence of river branches, sections of rivers with unstable channels, where the river is narrow and has a bottleneck. In addition, it is also due to human activities such as aquaculture along the riverbanks without planning or without following the instructions of functional sectors and the construction of houses and production and business establishments encroaching on the river surface, narrowing the wet cross-section of the channel and waves and winds caused by water vehicles causing local erosion...

As for landslides in canals and ditches in the fields, due to the dense density of rivers and ditches with many curved river sections, many intersections and crossroads, these are locations that are prone to landslides because the flow pushes straight into the bank for a long time, creating a frog's jaw combined with low tides accompanied by heavy rains at the beginning of the season and water vehicles passing by, causing landslides.

The number of dykes, embankments and rural roads has increased rapidly, often located along canals and ditches that do not ensure clearance. When investing in upgrading dykes and roads, most localities implement the solution of digging the bed and pumping sand, thereby breaking the soil structure, while the high density of traffic is the cause of road subsidence and landslides.

Furthermore, the construction of many houses and infrastructure works too close to the river banks such as dykes, roads, construction material yards, etc., or works encroaching on riverbeds, canals, and streams, narrows and changes the flow direction, thereby increasing the risk of bank erosion, etc.

Immediately after the landslide occurred, the People's Committee of the commune and ward of Dong Thap province directed the Department of Economic Infrastructure and Urban Affairs to coordinate with the hamlet chief and related units to conduct a survey of the actual landslide location, prohibiting landslide warning signs; signs prohibiting three-wheeled vehicles and cars from passing through the landslide; mobilized households in the area to build embankments and fill in soil to widen the road inside so that people can temporarily pass through the landslide; and at the same time directed related sectors to temporarily reinforce to limit the landslide from continuing to encroach deeper inside.

Specifically, in Hoi Cu commune, Dong Thap province, the riverbank erosion situation is very complicated, especially on canal 28, with a landslide section about 100 m long. Mr. Nguyen Van Nhiem, Party Secretary, Chairman of the People's Committee of Hoi Cu commune, Dong Thap province, said: The locality has temporarily reinforced the landslide points to avoid rising tides to avoid affecting the area of fruit orchards of the people, and at the same time proposed the Provincial People's Committee to support the locality to overcome the landslide situation in the area.

For now, the locality has set up barriers and warned people not to pass through the landslide site but to move to other safe routes while waiting for the province to allocate funds to handle the situation thoroughly, synchronously and thoroughly.

Final article: Review, sustainable master planning

Source: https://baotintuc.vn/kinh-te/bao-dong-tinh-trang-sat-lo-va-giai-phap-can-co-bai-1-sat-lo-bua-vay-20251025105420054.htm