The ultimate pain of a worker who lost 5 relatives due to landslide, the funeral was held next to the buffalo pen

Sung A Giang is temporarily staying in a neighbor's buffalo pen to mourn the loss of 5 family members - Photo: VU TUAN

Funeral by the buffalo pen

People in Phin Chai (A Lu commune, Bat Xat district, Lao Cai ) have never witnessed a funeral with so many dead people and so many days. The funeral tent was made of a temporary canvas stretched right next to the neighbor's buffalo pen.

After a day of searching, two bodies were pulled out of the rubble. People temporarily cleared a buffalo pen right next to the road and spread out a tarp as shelter. Another tarp was stretched across the concrete road to make room for the funeral.

Ten steps away was a house with a collapsed corner, pillars and beams lying in disarray. Opposite the house was a landslide on the negative slope that stretched for hundreds of meters.

That day, A Giang and his wife were working as laborers in Hai Duong and could not be contacted. A Giang's younger sister was in 10th grade in the district center, 80 kilometers from home. Soldiers, commune officials and villagers held a quick funeral. People came to pay their respects quickly and then took hoes and shovels to the scene to dig and search for the missing person.

It took rescuers four days to find all the missing victims of the landslide in Phin Chai 2 – Photo: Provided by Lao Cai Provincial Border Guard Command

People cut a few banana tree branches and burned some incense sticks while waiting for more dead people to be brought back.

Two days later, the funeral had four more makeshift coffins. The villagers performed a hasty ceremony and buried the bodies. It was not until September 11 that the last body in that terrible disaster was pulled out of the mud. The funeral tent next to the buffalo pen finally stopped crying.

Scene of landslide burying 4 houses and 7 people in Phin Chai 2 village, A Lu commune, Bat Xat, Lao Cai - Photo provided by Lao Cai Provincial Border Guard Command

Grandfather, parents and two children were all buried.

The neighbor's buffalo pen was the most sturdy place in the village. Four large ferns, similar to the cycads in the forest, were used as pillars. A few wooden beams were shiny from the buffaloes rubbing against them for a long time. The villagers spread out a tarp and two pieces of plastic mats to sleep on, and on the beam hung a box of instant noodles, a few bags of clothes, and blankets that the villagers had brought and placed in a corner.

Sung A Giang and his wife and his younger sister temporarily stayed in a buffalo pen. Relatives from far away also came to help A Giang, five or six people crowded into the buffalo pen.

A Giang's eyes were dark and dry from crying too much. He said that he and his wife went to work as factory workers in Hai Duong, leaving their two children at home with their grandparents. During the stormy days, the company temporarily closed, and A Giang and his wife huddled in a rented house to avoid the storm. There was no electricity, no signal, and they couldn't call home. When A Giang got electricity and signal, he couldn't contact them, and he felt like ants were biting his stomach.

Sung A Giang and his wife live in the care of their brothers, villagers and local border guards – Photo: VU TUAN

Then someone from the countryside reported that his house had been buried by a landslide! At that time, there were five people in A Giang's house, including his grandfather, parents, and two children. All were buried.

A Giang and his wife wiped away their tears and took a bus back to Lao Cai. When they reached Trinh Tuong commune (Bat Xat district), they walked home. The more than 40km journey home was filled with landslides. The two of them just walked, wading through mud when they encountered it, and cutting through the forest when the mud was too deep.

More than a day later, they returned to the village. Incense smoke still lingered, but no one was left. The small hamlet that had four houses before was now just a pile of rubble, the pillars and beams blackened with soot mixed with mud. Several bags of rice had sprouted, water and dirty mud were flowing down from the hill, if it continued to rain, who knows when the rocks and soil would collapse again.

“The house is gone! The rice is gone, the pigs and chickens are gone! Even the new rice (rice ripened in the fields – PV) is gone…”, A Giang turned away to hide his tears.

The road to A Lu has to pass through dozens of dangerous landslides - Photo provided by Lao Cai Provincial Border Guard Command

A Lu commune officials discussed with the family to let A Giang stay at a brother’s house half an hour away by motorbike, but A Giang wanted to stay here. In just a few days, he endured so much pain. The pain of losing his parents, the pain of losing his child, the pain of losing his home… He said that living in this buffalo shed was not miserable. He just needed a place to avoid the rain, and to sleep at night without being threatened by landslides.

“I have to wait a while to see how to farm again. I can’t work as a factory worker anymore, it’s too far away. I can’t take care of my sister. I want to stay close and take care of her education” – A Giang wiped away his tears.

Will arrange safe accommodation for hundreds of people

Speaking to Tuoi Tre newspaper reporters, Mr. Lu A Sinh - Secretary of the Party Committee of A Lu commune - said that the commune has reported to the district, the policy is to arrange safe accommodation for people in three villages of the old Ngai Thau commune.

Phin Chai 1, Phin Chai 2 and Can Cau villages are located in areas with high risk of landslides. The commune authorities have coordinated with relevant agencies to survey and find safe locations to arrange accommodation for the people.

Currently, in the commune, there are 28 households whose houses have completely collapsed and are having to stay at the cultural houses of the villages and hamlets. The other 52 households are at very high risk such as landslides in front of their houses, landslides in the back of their houses, many houses have cracked walls, sunken foundations...

“We have assigned the commune vice chairman and land officials to survey and find a safe location. The plan is to relocate all three villages to ensure long-term safety for the people,” said Mr. Sinh.