According to the hydrometeorological agency, a low pressure area has formed in the middle of the East Sea. At the end of September 21, the low pressure area was at about 12 – 13 degrees north latitude, 117 – 118 degrees east longitude, about 360 km northeast of Song Tu Tay island… Due to the influence of the circulation of the low pressure area, combined With the east wind, it is likely to cause a large-scale heavy rain in the Central Central, South Central and Central Highlands provinces on September 23-24. Thus, after the recent rain caused by Storm Conson, this is another heavy rain that causes the risk of early flooding in the Central region that can cause a lot of damage, while the Covid epidemic is developing unpredictably.
Influenced by global climate change and El Nino phenomenon, meteorologists believe that the weather in the Central region has changed a lot in the past 10 years. Storm No. 5 (Conson) and consecutive heavy rains in recent days on a large scale flooded tens of thousands of hectares of summer-autumn rice and crops that are about to be harvested, also showing that the stormy season has begun earlier than usual. .
Talking about natural disasters in the Central region, it is impossible not to think of an area of the country that has a weak technical infrastructure system, low people’s living standards and investment projects of hundreds and thousands of billion dong. infrastructure – especially in rural areas – is damaged every year.
Let’s start with the story of Dai Cuong embankment on Quang Hue river (Dai Loc district, Quang Nam province) in 2004. This embankment was built on a branch of Quang Hue river, connecting the two river systems Vu Gia and Thu Bon. in order to regulate the flow to ensure water sources for irrigation and daily life for Da Nang city, to limit multi-day floods for Hoi An and the lower Thu Bon river in the rainy season. Since March 2004, the Quang Hue river correction project, including Dai Cuong embankment, belongs to the Vietnam Irrigation Assistance Program (VWRAP) with a total investment of hundreds of billions of dollars in subsequent years. copper. Authorities once concluded: “The problem of regulating the Quang Hue river deserves to be included in the classic books of the irrigation industry” just because scientists are still struggling with technical solutions. Storms No. 2 and No. 5 in 2007, accompanied by large floods, destroyed the entire estuary embankment of the new river, destroyed more than 60 m to the left of the downstream embankment and opened a new estuary. Due to a lack of research, the rule of “falling side and accretion” has not been noticed, plus the slow disbursement in the rainy season has caused a lot of budget loss.
The coastal erosion of Cua Dai and Hoi An in recent years has also been costly, as costly solutions have paid little attention to the landslide phenomenon in the lower Thu Bon river that scientists have studied. decades before.
The above typical story shows that investing in the technical infrastructure system of the Central region is very expensive, requiring extensive research on planning and design of infrastructure and population works and regulations. nature. In addition, it also requires a focused investment for each project. The phenomenon of slow capital pouring in the style of “spreading the curtain” for infrastructure investment in many provinces is quite common. The capital is less until the third quarter of each year to be disbursed to carry out the construction, creating many irrigation, transportation and other people’s lives in the Central region as bait for the water god. That means that although the works are not effective, due to borrowing from international credit institutions, repayment in the future is inevitable.
I still remember, from the beginning of 2008, at the seminar themed “Central region – new opportunities for investment and development”, Deputy Minister of Planning and Investment at that time, Mr. Nguyen Bich Dat emphasized the purpose of ” attracting investment in the construction of transport infrastructure, in high-quality service industries and economic zones and industrial zones” for the Central region, in order to gradually shorten the development gap between regions. According to that workshop, by 2010, the whole region from Thanh Hoa to Binh Thuan and 5 provinces of the Central Highlands must achieve an economic growth rate of 10%/year (!), raising the GDP per capita to 750 USD.. The Ministry of Construction then developed a project on safe living with floods in 11 provinces and cities from Thanh Hoa to Phu Yen, proposing solutions for safe living with floods, including the establishment of planning the construction of flooded areas and solidifying works, especially residential houses. “These construction standards will have to be much different from the standards of infrastructure works in other regions, in which attention should be paid to the standards of people’s housing and evacuation works when storms and floods come. This will be the unifying basis for implementing disaster prevention programs and projects that are being implemented in the Central region”, the Government later emphasized when approving this project.
Although there were many seminars and many directions from scientists and from the Central Government, the disaster still did not stop. Serious landslides at Rao Trang hydropower plant (Thua Thien – Hue), in Tra Leng – Nam Tra My (Quang Nam) continued with tragic damage.
With Dai Cuong dam on Quang Hue river, until now, there is still a shortage of water on Vu Gia river, causing salt water to rise, affecting people’s livelihood and tourism for Da Nang city because of the lack of fresh water sources.
In short, worrying about the development of a poor central region and many natural disasters has long been a regular topic of interest from the Government to relevant ministries. But that is necessary but not enough! Synchronous implementation measures are carefully studied from survey, design to construction, timely and responsible balance of capital for safe and effective works are also very important. Only in this way can we hope to bring warmth and confidence to the people of Central Vietnam when “the wind turns to heaven”.
