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Flood victims face uncertain future |
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September 19, 2000
TAM NONG, Vietnam (AP) - Sitting under a ragged tarp alongside a road, Tran Van No huddled with a few precious possessions he managed to save before his house was swallowed by water: a bicycle, his pig, a few clothes. "I'm just afraid that a storm or strong wind will blow this away," said No, 40, a fisherman in Dong Thap province. "Then what will I have left?" Like No, an estimated 150,000 people in the Mekong Delta are facing an uncertain future, with officials saying Monday it could be two months before floodwaters recede enough for residents to return home. They don't know what the next day will bring or what the next meal will comprise. A similar situation is in store for neighboring Cambodia, where two months of floods - the worst in 70 years - have killed 109 people. In Vietnam, 27 people have died, including 18 children. More than 1 million people have lost either homes, lands, livestock, property or relatives in the two countries. "The problems associated with this massive flooding will be with us for months," said Richard Neville of the International Federation of the Red Cross, who is advising the Cambodian Red Cross. About 350,000 homes have been inundated in the four Vietnamese Delta provinces of An Giang, Dong Thap, Long An and Kien Giang. Meteorologists say nearly half the provinces are submerged, with water levels at or above those of 1996, when floods killed 217 people. Meanwhile, the displaced people have taken shelter on earthen dikes or alongside roads built on higher ground. Home is a makeshift shanty cobbled together from plastic tarp and bamboo poles. Throughout the province, a few rooftops and telephone poles jut above the water's surface, but for the most part, the flooded rice paddies resemble vast lakes shimmering into the horizon. "Many families have to move two to three times because the water keeps rising," said Nguyen Huu Hien of Long An's flood and storm control bureau. Along a highway leading north from Dong Thap's provincial capital of Cao Lanh, homeless families have set up threadbare encampments beside the road. Under a small shelter she shares with her husband and two children, Nguyen Thi Hue, 42, showed off her charcoal brazier, some pots and a prized bottle of fish sauce. They are the few belongings she salvaged from her house lying just beyond the road, she said, pointing to its weathered roof peeking above water. The crisis has forced neighbor to reach out to neighbor. Duong Nua, 49, is among the lucky few to remain unscathed. He harvested his last crop just days before the rains began in July. Blessing his good fortune, Nua in turn offered up his large home, built up on high stilts, as shelter for 15-16 families at night. "I give them a place to sleep because they are my neighbors," he said. In Cambodia, officials expect the raging Mekong river to start receding in coming weeks, but aid workers' next worry is that the homeless people may not have enough to eat, Peou Samy, the top relief official in Cambodia, said. "It is our biggest concern," Peou Samy, the secretary-general of the National Committee for Disaster Relief, said. Last week, the Red Cross appealed for dlrs 1.9 million in aid, with the bulk going to Cambodia. This week, officials said an additional appeal of up to dlrs 1.5 million will be launched for Vietnam. |
