Flood in Vietnam

The report introduces about flood in Vietnam. It includes the causes, the damages caused by floods, the experiences of some people and the solutions to reduce the floods and the damages caused by floods.

Flood is one of the most dangerous disasters in the world. Flood is defined “A very large amount of water that covers an area that is usually dry” (Longman Dictionary 390). As we known, every flood causes damage not only on property but also on people. Vietnam, the country with S-shape mainland located at Southeast Asia is also affected by floods.

There are many reasons cause floods in Vietnam including natural factors and human’s factors. Rainfall, the influence of tides, storms and tropical depressions are natural factors. Because Vietnam has “An average annual rainfall is from 1,500 to 2,000 mm” (chinhphu.vn), after heavy rain often causes flood in some cities which have poor drainage systems.

“The influence of monsoon” (chinhphu.vn) is also a reason that Vietnam has to be affected by storms and tropical depressions. “In 2013, it was 14 hurricanes, 5 tropical depressions and special 3 major storms dumped directly into Vietnam” (fistenet), storms with heavy rains also cause serious floods which lead to enormous damaged.

Annual tide is also a natural factor, especially in the state of the earth warming leads to melting ice at the poles as sea level rise tide has more and more affection. Rising sea level impacts serious to lowland areas in Cuu Long Delta such as Dong Thap and Long Xuyen which makes the annual flood out of control and longer than past. Then, dense river system with amount of water is risk factor of flood.

Deforestation a major component of human factors because “Forests have a role regulating water sources, reducing surface runoff transfer it to seep into the ground water and into the aquifer. Overcoming soil erosion and limit sedimentation of river, lake, air-flow of the rivers, streams (rising river water, spring water in the dry season, reducing the amount of river water in the rainy season)”(tnmtphutho).

In Vietnam, especially in Central area, each flood is a nightmare for residents. According to a student in Phu Hoa city (Phu Yen province) “Flood occurs on the rainy season from October to November every year because of heavy rain or Ba Ha’s hydropower plant discharges the water. Flood lasts about a week and the highest level of water is up to the rooftop. Due to having preparation carefully for each year (store the food , use small boats to travel), it is not have lots of deformation.

If the flood comes without prediction, the damage causes by flood will be enormous” (Thiem Le). Most of floods are depend on rainy season but “The flood becomes serious and serious from year to year”( Viet Linh) and more difficult to predict.

During flooding, children should be cared by their family carefully because they are quite obstreperous and lack of knowledge about the danger of flood. A student lives in Tan Phu (Dong Nai province) shared that she was in danger because she and her friends tried to learn how to swim in the water when flood occurring (Bich Tran). After each flood, disease is also a problem we need to face.

Because of unusual weather events ,“In 11 first months in 2013, storms and floods had made 264 people dead and missing, 800 injured, damage to property amounted to 25.000 billion” (eva.vn).

According to the statistic of some websites from January to June 2014 floods caused a lot of damage on people and property: In Lao Cai province, “Loss of infrastructure was over 160 billion” (Laocai.gov); “In Binh Thuan, in the early of July 2014, flash flood killed 1 person at Phan Lam commune, Bac Binh district” (kttvntb); “In Ham Yen (Tuyen Quang province), due to the impact of the number 2 storm’s circulation, on 19 and 20/7 heavy rained, causing flooding in the area of the town of Ham Yen district do big damage to production and people's lives.

Until 10 am on 20/07, flood affected to more than 20 hectares of rice, caused 0.7 hectares of sugarcane fallen, 10 houses were eroded in Yen Lam, Minh Nhan and Thuong Minh commune, 15 houses were submerged in water in whole district, luckily, no damage on the people.” (Hamyen.org)

During 2013, Vietnamese had to face to many floods caused by tropical storms and the 15th tropical storm was the most serious affected to Vietnam.”

In November 2013, the circulation of 15th tropical storm caused heavy rains, flood rise quickly causing 5 deaths, traffic division and thousands of houses in Central drowned. In Binh Dinh, due to flood waters rise quickly and unexpectedly, morning 15/11, a man ( in An Nghia commune, Hoai An district) was swept away by flood.

Many communes and towns were submerged in water, in Hoai An district had 2,313 houses to be flooded. On the same day, a man in Van Canh district was swept away, too.

Flood and landslide also made traffic jam on DT 638 road. More than 2,000 families were separated by floodwaters.

In O3 village Vinh Kim commune Vinh Thanh district was separated completely and 3 houses were collapsed. At Dieu Tri station, water of flood also submerged a north-south railway line towards Phu Yen Province. In Quang Ngai, flood also killed a little girl when she went to school, 25000 people needed to move to protect themselves from flood. In Gia Lai, 2 teachers were death because of flood. In Song Cau town, up to 5pm 15/11/2013, 209 families with more than 770 people in low-lying areas, coastal rivers, eroded threatened by flood ares were evacuated to safety “ (tinthoitiet).

Although flood brings to a lot of destruction, we can prevent and reduce the damages in many ways. Firstly, to prevent flood we should protect the forest. Protective and headwater forests have an important role because it is not only controlling water to prevent flood but also limiting the greenhouse effect to protect the environment.

Strengthening irrigation, reinforcing dikes and dams are good solutions to prevent floods in delta and lower-land. Ensuring the operation of the drainage system is effective way to reduce flood in cities when it is heavy rain.

Moreover, the government should have positive measures such as have a plan to deal to flood, exercising plan of rescue, evacuating people from dangerous areas, providing people with food and medicine when flooding.

Residents also have many solutions to live in flood. People in lowland areas often build their house higher than other areas. They should have a reasonable harvest plan to reduce the damage. At the time when flood usually occurs, they store food and essential products to make sure that they have enough food for long time.

As you see above, floods cause lots of negative effects on Vietnam and most of countries on the earth face to the same problem.

However, thank for the modern devices and careful preparation we can predict and reduce a part of destruction caused by floods.

The more you prepare the less damage you face.