City losing homes to land erosion

There were 16 instances of eroding riverbanks in HCM City's Districts 9, Can Gio, and Thu Duc last year that destroyed six houses, according to the city's Steering Committee for Flood and Storm Prevention and Control and the Committee for Search and Rescue.

More riverbanks in Districts Hoc Mon, Cu Chi, Binh Thanh, Thu Duc, and 2 face a high risk of erosion from flooding caused by high tides and rain. The rainy season normally begins in the first week of May.


Besides, on five occasions high tides exceeded alarm level 3 to rise above 1.5m last year and breach embankments in four spots, affecting more than 570 households.

Accidents at sea like collision of boats and drowning, workplace accidents, and gas leaks killed 15 people and left 31 others missing.

Le Hoang Quan, chairman of the city People's Committee, ordered related agencies and departments to check all embankments and dykes in the city to prevent erosion.

Speaking at a conference to review flood and storm prevention and control and search and rescue yesterday, he urged local chiefs to immediately mobilise all available resources for search and rescue efforts before asking for support from higher agencies.

Last year the city spent VND208.7 billion (US$9.9 million) on building embankments and dams and repairing storm shelters for fishermen.