Urgent task, repair houses for people damaged after floods

lũ - Ảnh 1. — Houses in My Dien village, Hoa Thinh commune, the old flood center of Phu Yen , were destroyed after the flood - Photo: CHAU TUAN

On the afternoon of November 24, in My Dien village (Hoa Thinh commune, old Phu Yen), the water had receded, but the traces of the strong water sweeping through the flood center were still clear with cracked roads, full of household items and rubbish swept away by the flood. Many houses were completely collapsed. Lesser houses lost their roofs, collapsed walls, and blew off doors.

Picking up from the rubble for temporary shelter after the flood

At the entrance of the village, a row of about 30 houses facing the floodwaters were completely destroyed. The back half of many houses were destroyed by the raging water, broken tiles scattered everywhere, leaving only the broken frames. Ms. Huynh Thi Lien had just returned, digging through the pile of broken tiles and rubble to find the memorial photo of her late mother.

The 42-year-old woman burst into tears, hugging her mother’s portrait tightly to her chest when she found it. This is where she lived with her parents before getting married and still goes there every day to burn incense. She had just finished mourning her mother for two days when the flood hit.

After her emotions, she placed the incense bowl respectfully in front of the portrait in the house that had been stripped of all its furniture. "To me, this house has so many priceless memories. So since my mother passed away, I have kept it as it is, including the position of the chair and the bed where she used to sleep. Later, I will rebuild the house in the same shape as before," she cried again.

A few dozen meters away, the house of Mr. Huynh Thanh Tong (53 years old) had half collapsed at the back, the roof was still full of straw - traces of the water rising up to 4 meters. Mr. Tong said that when the water receded, his family started cleaning from the front and the bedroom, step by step collecting what was left. His hands dug through the thick mud to pick up each pot, bottle of cooking oil, each small item with the faint hope that it could still be used.

For the past two days, his family has been eating mainly relief food to maintain their strength, both to ensure daily activities and to have enough energy to clean up and rebuild their lives after the night of the flood. The sight of devastation before his eyes made him feel tired, but the effort to restore life was still evident in the busy atmosphere of the whole family.

Passing through Phu Huu village (Hoa Thinh commune), we came across Mr. Dac Van Tuong (65 years old) sitting blankly next to his and his son's two houses that had completely collapsed. He and his wife both suffered from strokes and are in poor health, so they still do not know what to do with the rubble before their eyes.

Mr. Tuong's son, Dang The Hinh (39 years old), is working as a hired hand in Ho Chi Minh City. He did not return home in time when he heard the news of the house collapse. Another son, Dang Quoc Tu, who works as a hired coffee picker in Lam Dong, returned home when he heard the news.

Anh Tu was starting to clean up the collapsed bricks, pulling out the muddy cupboard and table to clean up, quickly finding a place for his parents to stay for the next few days.

This was the second time Mr. Tuong had suffered a house collapse. In the 1993 flood, his house was also destroyed. At that time, he was young and healthy enough to "rebuild", but now everything was so vast.

He has eight children, but all of them are poor. Over the past few days, Mr. Tuong said he has been able to survive thanks to the support that people from all over the country have sent back. The kindness of people across the country has helped people in the flood-hit areas like him have more faith. "I just need a house to live in, a small one, as long as I have a house," Mr. Tuong said.

Hearing his father say that, Tu turned to encourage him: "Dad, don't be sad, the government won't abandon us. We'll have a house again. Now I'm clearing bricks, and in a few days I'll help build a house so we don't have to spend money on bricks."

To me, this house has too many priceless memories. So since my mother passed away, I have kept it as it is, including the position of the chair and the bed where she used to sleep. Later, I will rebuild the house in the same shape as before.

Ms. Huynh Thi Lien (My Dien village, Hoa Thinh commune - old Phu Yen)

Priority support for new construction for people whose houses collapsed

For families whose roofs were only blown off, like Mr. Ho Van Ly (62 years old) in My Dien village, Hoa Thuan commune, the family is also busy re-tiling the roof. "Luckily, I bought old tiles in advance so I can replace them right away. I'll try to fix it in time, otherwise when it rains, I won't have a place to sleep," Mr. Ly said while re-tiling the roof.

In places like Ban Thach, Thach Tuan 1, Thach Tuan 2 villages in Hoa Dong commune, houses were not severely damaged, but the floodwaters swept into their houses, causing people to lose many essential items for living. In front of every house, there were piles of wet, unusable items. Most of the "trash" was blankets, mats, and damaged tables and chairs.

After helping people clean up, army units from many places such as regional military commands in the province and units of Military Region 5 helped people get rid of unnecessary items and rearrange items that could still be used.

According to the report of the People's Committee of Hoa Thinh commune, as of November 24, the whole commune had 4,820 out of 8,255 houses completely flooded, with estimated damage to property inside the houses of about 482 billion VND. The number of houses flooded from 30 - 50% is 870 houses, with estimated damage to property inside the houses of about 26.1 billion VND.

The number of houses completely collapsed was 24, with an estimated loss of about 7.2 billion VND. The number of houses collapsed by less than 50% was 25, with an estimated loss of 500 million VND.

How do Gia Lai and Khanh Hoa spend money to support people in rebuilding their houses?

As the first locality to suffer heavy damage to houses due to storm No. 13 and the recent historic flood, Mr. Nguyen Tuan Thanh - Standing Vice Chairman of Gia Lai Provincial People's Committee - said that so far the province has allocated enough funds to communes and wards to support people whose houses collapsed in these two natural disasters.

"Currently, localities are urgently planning and coordinating with people to rebuild roofs to provide shelter," Mr. Thanh said.

Specifically, Gia Lai province decided to support each collapsed house with 60 million VND, and each house with damaged roof with 2-5 million VND depending on the level of damage. In addition, the province has also completed the distribution of 2,000 tons of government rice to support poor households, policy households and households affected by storms and floods.

At the same time, the province has just received an additional 1,000 tons of rice from the Government to support people after the flood, which will soon be distributed to the people. Along with that, the province has mobilized support resources and contributions from society and will allocate them appropriately to help people rebuild after the natural disaster.

In the long term, Mr. Thanh added that the province has a plan to invest in 14 resettlement areas to relocate all households in areas at high risk of natural disasters. To minimize costs, military units will participate in construction work and hand over to people in a turnkey manner.

The province has developed a project and set a target of completing resettlement areas to welcome residents before the Lunar New Year 2026. There are 3 house models being drafted for people to choose from, taking into account factors of solidity and resistance to natural disasters.

In Khanh Hoa province, Mr. Nguyen Long Bien - Standing Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee - said that the province has disbursed funds and requested localities to immediately pay people to rebuild their houses due to the impact of floods. Previously, the province had decided to support each family whose house was completely collapsed due to floods with 60 million VND/house, and collapsed and severely damaged houses with 30 million VND/house.

Mr. Bien added that after people receive support, the provincial Department of Construction will have specific instructions for people to rebuild their houses properly and solidly, and at the same time, communes and wards will closely monitor so that the housing reconstruction support money is used for the right purpose.

"Every effort is for the people"

Mr. Le Chi Hoai - Chairman of the People's Committee of Hoa Thinh Commune - said: "The commune is urgently counting the number of houses damaged by the flood. Priority will be given to supporting the construction of new houses for those whose houses were completely collapsed so that people can soon stabilize their lives. All efforts at this time are for the people."

Meanwhile, leaders of communes heavily affected by floods such as Dong Xuan and Hoa Dong said they are urgently surveying and calculating the detailed level of damage to households to provide support.