Head of Kho Vang village recounts 8-hour race to get 115 people up the mountain to avoid landslide
VTC News•13/09/2024
Within just 8 hours of discovering the landslide, the head of Kho Vang village mobilized 115 people to evacuate to safety.
On the afternoon of September 13, while busy receiving relief supplies and distributing them to the people, Mr. Ma Seo Chu (1991), the head of Kho Vang village (Coc Lau commune, Bac Ha, Lao Cai ) told reporters of the VTC News electronic newspaper about the hours of racing against time to bring 115 of his people to avoid the flood, miraculously escaping death. Mr. Chu recalled that on September 9, Kho Vang village experienced 2 days of continuous rain. Because the commune and district authorities had informed him in advance, he and a few young men in the village went up to the hill area behind the village to check and find a high, flat hill or mountain to gradually calculate the plan to evacuate the people.
The old residence of 115 households was swept away by flood.
Currently, 115 people are living in a temporary camp about 20 minutes away from their old residence by forest road.
“At around 8am, we discovered a landslide of about 20cm, so we immediately mobilized each other to cut bamboo trees to a safe area to build a shelter, using available tarps to cover it, and brought people there to stay temporarily, to avoid it for a while. We raced against time because we knew that the hill behind us could collapse at any time. From the time we discovered it until everyone safely arrived at the camp, it was only about 8 hours. By 4pm the same day, all 115 people had reached safety. Unexpectedly, after everyone arrived, the next day the hill behind us collapsed right in the village area," said Mr. Chu. When everyone evacuated to a new shelter to avoid the landslide, people only brought essential items such as blankets, bowls, chopsticks, pots and pans, and a little rice to cook. Among the 115 people of Kho Vang village who evacuated to avoid the landslide, there were 50 children aged 0-15 years old. On the flat area of the mountain, Village Chief Chu and the young people in the village built 14 huts, covered with tarpaulin and staked with bamboo.
Village Chief Ma Seo Chu still has many concerns about the current life of the people of Kho Vang village.
In the early days of living in the camp, people faced many difficulties. Food and clean water were scarce, and people did not know what to do, they could only rely on each other because their houses had been eroded and covered with rocks and soil. “When we saw the authorities coming, we were extremely happy, knowing that we had been saved. Everyone brought rice, instant noodles, dry food and candy. The next day, the commune and district authorities brought a lot of relief supplies to help people stabilize their lives,” recalled the head of Kho Vang village. Talking about the future of the 115 people, Mr. Chu said that currently, returning to their old place of residence is impossible, because that area has suffered serious landslides. Therefore, in the coming time, Mr. Chu and the people hope that the local authorities will soon create conditions and find new safe places for people to relocate, rebuild their houses and settle down. Responding to VTC News, Mr. Nguyen Quoc Nghi - Secretary of the Party Committee of Coc Lau commune, Bac Ha district, said that Kho Vang village was merged from two villages, Ban Vang and Kho Lac. The people who fled to the mountain to avoid landslides were people from Ban Vang village before.
Mr. Nguyen Quoc Nghi - Secretary of the Party Committee of Coc Lau commune informed about people going up the mountain to avoid landslides.
Mr. Nghi added that the people's search for safe places to avoid landslides was not a spontaneous action but was motivated, guided, and actively supported by the village chief. “Before storm No. 3 arrived, we continuously worked with localities to disseminate measures to prevent storms, floods, and landslides. We continuously contacted the village chief because the local people had very difficult terrain. Thevillage chief was very active and responsive, following instructions, he investigated and brought people to a safe place to avoid landslides. After the storm passed, that area completely lost contact and signals. We sent a team of officials to check, it took 2 days to reach the village and know that everyone had arrived at a safe place. Therefore, calling them missing is not accurate,” Mr. Nghi emphasized. Previously, a representative of the People's Committee of Coc Lau commune said that at noon on September 11, local authorities traveled 15km and found 17 households with 115 people in Kho Vang village, Coc Lau commune. On September 9, when discovering the risk of landslides in Kho Vang village, the 115 people proactively moved to a high mountain about 1km from the village to build temporary shelters.
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