VietNamNet Bridge - Every year, erosion sewers out500 hectares of land in the Mekong Delta and leaves local people living in fear.

According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD), 265 landslide places are found in Mekong Delta with the length of 450 kilometers out of total 700 kilometers of coastline.

At the Ganh Hao inlet in Dong Hai district of Bac Lieu province, the section of breakwater built in 2000 with hundreds of billions of dong seems to have no more strength to cope with the raging waves.

“The dyke is not strong enough to protect us from the sea waves which tend to be more violent,” said Nguyen Van Be, a local man who has been living there for more than 40 years.

Be is one of the 4,000 households in the local area threatened by sea waves.

There was a protective forest in the area 20 years ago. One had to go through the protective forest and a 500 meter vacant land strip before seein sea water. However, the sea waves have taken out land, the protective forest and now approached the crowded residential quarter.

The erosion in the coastal areas of Kien Giang province is getting more serious because of the narrowed protective forests. Many local households have lost their houses.

Lai Tan Du, a man in Van Khanh commune of An Minh district, said a part of his house was collapsed by sea waves recently, when Du and his family members were sleeping.

“The sea water often rises up suddenly. But we have nowhere to evacuate to,” Du said.

The Border Station No 714 in Kim Quy commune of Anh Minh district has to move by 500 meters inland because of the erosion.

“It was the mainland there,” a border soldier said, pointing to the small lonely house on the high sea.

The Ca Mau Cape was an alluvial ground which could encroach on the sea by hundreds of meters a year. However, nowadays, its eastern part suffers from serious erosion.

The people who travel on Vo Tanh Road in Can Tho City every day suffer constant anxiety because they know the road may fall into the Cai Rang River at any time.

Le Anh Hao, a local man, said one year ago, the landslide once occurred, which caused three houses to fall into the river. And a crack appeared recently on a crowded section of road.

Dong Thap, which is situated on the Tien riverhead, is the province which suffers most in Mekong River Delta from the landslide.

According to Le Thanh Hung, head of the Irrigation Sub-department, 1,000 households in the landslide stricken areas would be evacuating in the immediate time.

NLD