More families evacuated from dam area in northern Vietnam

By Vo Hai  &nbspAugust 2, 2018 | 10:58 am GMT+7 Hoa Binh authorities have prodded more people to move as worsening erosion threatens their houses. Just  20 kilometers from the largest hydropower dam in Southeast Asia, dozens of families in downstream Ky Son District in Hoa Binh Province are on the verge of toppling into the Da River as land erosion goes from bad to worse. Nguyen Manh Sau, a local official, said the erosion was caused by torrential rains over the past 10 days.  A crack measuring 100 meters long and 20 centimeters wide has appeared on a provincial road. Local authorities have warned that worsening erosion could send houses in the 300-square-meter area tumbling into the Da River at any time. District officials have cordoned off the vulnerable area at both ends and banned all vehicles from using the road. The houses of several families on the road have sunk. Locals said this was the first time they’d  had suffered from such serious erosion.   Local authorities have identified 15 houses in the area as most vulnerable to collapsing. Over the past two days, eight families with 24 members deemed at high risk have been evacuated. Police forces and local officials have helped affected residents to move to temporary shelters.  Earlier, local authorities had ordered a mass evacuation of hundreds of residents in high-risk areas of erosion near the Da River after five houses in Dong Tien Ward were half-swallowed by the river. While some residents have blamed it on the Hoa Binh… [Read full story]