The West struggles to fight landslides

Landslides in provinces and cities in the Mekong Delta continue to develop complicatedly, seriously affecting people's lives, production and property.

Since the beginning of 2025, the whole Vinh Long province has had 135 landslides, 7.6km long, affecting 521 households, with estimated damage of about 40 billion VND. In Phong Thanh commune, 12 landslides were recorded with a length of 354m. The landslides penetrated deep into the mainland, creating frog jaws and encroaching on the foot of the dike, threatening the dike system combined with the traffic route along the Hau River, directly affecting 884 hectares of fruit gardens.

The anti-erosion embankment of Thuong Thoi Tien (Thuong Phuoc commune, Dong Thap province) suffered serious landslides.

Vulnerable areas such as: Con Ho (Nhi Long commune), Con Thanh Long (Quoi Thien commune), Islet Long Tri (Long Duc ward), Hiep My river bank (Hiep My commune), Duyen Hai ward coast and Dong Hai and Long Vinh communes also frequently experience landslides. On October 23 and 24, at Con Thanh Long, there were many landslides and dike breaks, with a total length of more than 1.5km, causing damage to about 62 hectares of orchards.

This is an area that has experienced many serious landslides. Although the dike system has been reinforced, it still has a high risk of landslides. Mr. Tran Van Lau, Secretary of Vinh Long Provincial Party Committee, personally inspected the landslide and dike breakage area and directed immediate and long-term solutions.

Vinh Long province has announced 4 urgent projects, including: Reinforcing the dike along Hau river (Phong Thanh commune), repairing the dike north of Tra Cu canal (Luu Nghiep Anh commune), embankment to prevent landslides on Giao Hoa river bank (Giao Long commune) and repairing the sea dike line of Giong Ban (Long Vinh commune). Giong Ban hamlet has an area of ​​877.46 hectares with 267 households, of which the length at risk of landslides is up to 3km, directly affecting 45 households on an area of ​​36.5 hectares.

Mr. Duong Thanh Sang (local resident) said that his family has been involved in shrimp farming for more than 20 years, but in the past 3 years, landslides have become increasingly serious, losing about 20,000 square meters ^of land. According to Mr. Le Quang Rang, Deputy Director of the Department of Agriculture and Environment of Vinh Long province, the agricultural sector has coordinated to survey, delimit key production areas that need protection and review residential areas, riverbanks, and canals at risk of landslides to proactively develop response plans.

In Dong Thap, in October 2025 alone, there were 14 riverbank landslides. Of these, 8 occurred on the Tien River through the communes of Tan Long, An Long, Thuong Phuoc and My Hiep,... with a total length of nearly 900m, affecting 38 houses. In addition, in the inland area, 6 landslides occurred in the communes of Lap Vo, Phu Cuong, An Long, My Loi, Doc Binh Kieu and Hiep Duc, with a length of about 7.6km. The total estimated damage was more than 22 billion VND.

Mr. Le Chi Thien, Deputy Director of the Department of Agriculture and Environment of Dong Thap province, said that since the beginning of the year, there have been 155 landslides, with a total length of more than 19km. Of these, 15 landslides occurred on the banks of the Tien River, with a length of more than 2km, and 140 landslides on small river banks and canals. Landslides are not only concentrated on large river banks, but also occur frequently on canals and ditches. The situation of landslides and subsidence continues to be complex and unpredictable, especially during the peak months of the rainy and flood season.

Typically, the landslides on the Tien River bank through Cao Lanh ward, with a length of about 500m, penetrated 30-70m into the bank. The landslides affected the houses and land of 35 households. This area still has about 1.6km of river bank at risk of landslides at any time, threatening the safety of about 285 households. The anti-erosion embankment of Thuong Thoi Tien (Thuong Phuoc commune) and district road 54B (section through Hiep Duc commune) also experienced serious landslides, completely cutting off traffic through this area. Mr. Pham Cong Trang, Chairman of Hiep Duc commune People's Committee, said that this location had previously shown signs of landslides.

Dong Thap province also proposed the Central Government to support the budget of about 830 billion VND to urgently handle the particularly serious landslide on the Tien River. The Chairman of the People's Committee of Dong Thap province has signed a decision to order the construction of an emergency project to repair the landslide on the Tien River bank in Thuong Phuoc commune and Cao Lanh ward. In recent days, construction units have been mobilizing materials, machinery, equipment and human resources to implement the project to urgently repair the landslide on the Tien River bank.

The Department of Agriculture and Environment of Dong Thap province proposed to assign the Project Management Board to invest in construction of landslide areas on large and medium-sized canals into 26 lists of works (46 landslide locations), with a repair length of about 3.6km, and an estimated repair cost of about 105 billion VND.

The People's Committees of communes and wards have repaired about 22 landslide locations on the internal canals, with a repair length of about 7.2km, with an estimated repair cost of about 32 billion VND. For 6 project categories (6 landslide and subsidence locations) to repair landslides on large rivers with complex and large-scale landslide developments, the Department of Agriculture and Environment proposed to allocate funds from public investment capital for the period 2026-2030.

There are 24 landslides and riverbank subsidence points affecting people's traffic and embankments and dykes protecting agricultural production. The People's Committee at the commune level presides over and coordinates with the Regional Project Management Board and relevant units to survey and propose solutions to handle and overcome landslides suitable to the local reality, ensuring efficiency and savings.

Source: https://cand.com.vn/doi-song/mien-tay-gong-minh-chong-sat-lo-i787405/