The southernmost province of the country has declared a drought emergency in Tran Van Thoi and U Minh districts to immediately deploy response measures.
This is the second locality in the West, after Tien Giang province, to declare an emergency situation during this year's dry season, when drought has caused more than 2,600 households to lack water for daily use; subsidence and landslides have occurred continuously in recent months.
The functional sector assessed that the water level in the canals and streams and in the freshwater area of Tran Van Thoi and U Minh districts continued to drop. The shortage of water for daily life and agricultural production in these two localities continued; land subsidence, landslides on canal banks and roads continued to occur.
Since the beginning of the dry season, Tran Van Thoi district has had more than 600 landslides and land subsidence points with a total length of nearly 16 km, causing estimated damage of more than 20 billion VND.
A dry canal in Tran Van Thoi district during this year's drought and salinity. Photo: Thanh Tung
According to Decree 66/2021 of the Government , a natural disaster emergency is a natural disaster that has occurred or is occurring, directly endangering the safety of life and health of many people and important infrastructure works in use. An emergency situation is declared by a decision of a competent person such as the Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee, Minister, or Head of a ministerial-level agency.
Ca Mau provincial authorities requested Tran Van Thoi and U Minh districts to implement solutions to supply and store water for people in areas lacking domestic water; support containers, water treatment chemicals, and transport water from other places to areas without water for people to use; absolutely do not let people go without water for daily use.
Relevant departments and localities are required to review traffic routes and canals at risk of landslides and subsidence to warn and have solutions to minimize damage.
Many roads in Tran Van Thoi district have suffered serious subsidence. Photo: An Minh
The hydrometeorological agency forecasts that the drought will last until the end of April, with seasonal thunderstorms appearing in early May. This saline intrusion in the West is higher than the average of many years, but not as severe as 2016 and 2020. Of which, 2016 had the heaviest impact in 100 years, when 160,000 hectares of land were affected by salinity, causing damage of more than 5,500 billion VND, and 10/13 provinces and cities in the West had to declare natural disasters.
An Minh
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