Anxious at the foot of the landslide

I dare not stay at home at night.

Twice, Van Ca Vai mountain collapsed, rocks and soil fell into the house, collapsing the kitchen, livestock pen, toilet..., the family of 5 of Mr. Dinh Ang and Mrs. Dinh Thi Theo (Lang Dau residential group, Di Lang town, Son Ha district, Quang Ngai province) always lived in a state of insecurity and fear when the flood season came.

Part of the house of Mr. Dinh Ang and Ms. Tran Thi Theo collapsed after a landslide in December 2022.

"Luckily no one died, but each time the mountain collapsed, it cost tens of millions of dong to repair the house. Twice like that, the poor became even poorer" - Mrs. Theo lamented.

This year, the government implemented an emergency project to prevent landslides on Van Ca Vai Mountain, the second time the mountain has been reinforced to prevent landslides. The project was implemented during a time when thunderstorms came, causing Mrs. Theo’s house to be flooded.

"I don't know where the water is coming from, whether it's from the mountain or underground, but it's flowing into the living room. The project is being done quickly, but if it's finished at night, my whole family still won't dare stay there. We'll have to find another place to stay. What if the mountain collapses again?" - Mrs. Theo worried.

Mrs. Theo said that her house's kitchen collapsed twice due to landslides.

Not far from Mrs. Theo's house is Mrs. Tran Thi Tho's house. Selling groceries right at the foot of the mountain to make a living, her family of 6 also has to pack up and go to someone else's house at night because they are afraid of landslides.

"The government has organized a meeting to get people's opinions. This area has land belonging to 7 households, but only 5 households have houses that are eligible for resettlement. Mrs. Theo's family and I and another household want to go, but one of the remaining 2 households hesitates, the other does not agree because their land area here is too large, while the resettlement area is only 100 square meters, and there is no compensation so they do not agree" - Mrs. Tho said.

A few years ago, while she was crawling into the pigsty to sweep the floor, Mrs. Tho heard a “bang” and then rocks and soil fell from above, collapsing two walls. She was so frightened that she shouted and ran out into the street. Since that night, every night, she and the people at the foot of the mountain did not dare to stay home.

During the day, despite knowing the danger, people are forced to “hold their breath” and leave it to fate to return home to take care of their livelihood, take care of pigs and chickens, and clean up the mud that has flooded their homes. At night, they have to evacuate, because they are afraid of landslides and have no way to escape.

Mrs. Tho said that Van Ca Vai mountain had collapsed many years ago. In this place, although there was a project to prevent landslides, the mountain continued to collapse on people's houses. So now that the second project is finished, she and her family still live in fear.

Van Ca Vai mountain landslide prevention project is under construction.

"For 4 years now, we have been running every year during the rainy season. Since the second anti-erosion project started, when it rains heavily, I and several other households around here have had to find another place to live. Even though the project is almost finished, I still don't feel secure," said Ms. Tho.

  17 billion VND and 2 emergency landslide prevention

In 2021, Van Ca Vai Mountain suffered a landslide, threatening 5 houses at the foot of the mountain. In June 2021, Son Ha district invested 3 billion VND to urgently construct a landslide prevention project on this mountain.

Around the end of 2023, the Chairman of Son Ha District People's Committee decided to hand over the emergency construction project to prevent landslides on Van Ca Vai mountain to Di Lang Town People's Committee for management.

However, in the rainy season of 2023, Van Ca Vai mountain continued to erode, threatening the lives of local households. In 2024, Son Ha district invested 14 billion VND in emergency construction to prevent landslides from the central budget to support overcoming the consequences of natural disasters and landslides in 2023 in Quang Ngai province.

Explaining why Van Ca Vai mountain still collapsed after spending 3 billion VND to prevent landslides, Vice Chairman of Son Ha District People's Committee Phan Anh Quang said that the landslide site that was previously repaired was on the same side of the hill. When the repair was completed, the landslide continued nearby.

The project to overcome the consequences of natural disasters and landslides in Van Ca Vai residential area was started on July 15 under the emergency construction order.

The project to overcome the consequences of natural disasters and landslides in Van Ca Vai residential area started on July 15 and was expected to be completed before October 31, 2024. However, by mid-September, the construction volume had only reached more than 23%.

According to Mr. Phan Anh Quang, there are many reasons for the slow progress of the project. First, based on the policy of the Provincial People's Committee to resettle and handle landslides on Van Ca Vai mountain, the district came up with a plan to handle landslides and choose a resettlement location. However, after many meetings to collect opinions, the people still did not agree.

Specifically, households at the foot of Van Ca Vai mountain refused to move to the resettlement area, but decided to stay, move on their own during the rainy season, and take responsibility for themselves. The reason was that when they moved to the resettlement area, they were only allocated 100m2.   Land/household, while the area relocated due to landslides will not be compensated for houses and land.

Next is the Van Ca Vai mountain top area, there is also an electric pole belonging to the 110kV line of Dat Phuong Son Tra Hydropower Joint Stock Company, located within the landslide treatment radius, but there are no measures to relocate it.

The power pole of Dat Phuong Son Tra Hydropower Joint Stock Company is located on the top of the mountain.

Notably, in June 2024, the leaders of the Department of Dykes and Natural Disaster Prevention inspected the landslide site at Van Ca Vai Mountain and stated that the design solution was not guaranteed, and the risk of landslide recurrence was very high. The leaders of the department also requested that the aforementioned electric pole be relocated to reinforce the landslide.

Through many meetings, the People's Committee of Son Ha district reported and received the province's approval not to resettle, but only to reinforce Van Ca Vai mountain against landslides. However, due to the complex terrain and geology here, the province could not find a design unit.

Finally, the chosen solution was not to relocate the households at the foot of the mountain, but to dig deep into the mountain to pull the foundation up close to the electric pole, form a drainage ditch on the surface of the existing foundation, and drain the water from the foundations down to the reinforced stone cages at the foot of foundation 1. The surface of the foundations is not reinforced with technical solutions, anti-erosion and groundwater drilling.

According to the leader of Son Ha district government, the reinforcement against landslides on Van Ca Vai mountain has reached more than 80%.

“The technical plan must be divided into 9 levels, removing all the weak soil and rock layers with a large volume, about 40,000m3 until the gravel and rock layers appear inside and implementing technical measures to prevent erosion. Up to this point, the overall progress of the entire project is behind schedule, reaching only nearly 25%, but the part of reinforcing to prevent landslides on Van Ca Vai mountain has reached more than 80%” - Vice Chairman of Son Ha District People's Committee said.

However, despite implementing two Van Ca Vai landslide prevention projects with a total cost of 17 billion VND to protect the lives of 5 households and 24 people at the foot of the mountain, the issue of ensuring people's safety in the future (when the second project is put into use) is still a matter of doubt, with no definite answer.

"Overcoming landslides is the optimal solution at present, but due to the complex terrain and geology, we cannot confirm anything. This is still a concern for the district," Mr. Quang shared.

Source: https://kinhtedothi.vn/thap-thom-duoi-chan-nui-lo.html