My house is flooded

From now to the end of October, central provinces in Vietnam may experience up to three bouts of heavy rains, with total precipitation reaching 1,000 millimeters. Flooding and torrential rains will hit central Vietnam as typhoons and tropical depressions will be landing, with threats of floodings and landslides in the next few days, according to the National Center for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting (NCHMF) has predicted Vietnam’s Deputy Prime Minister Le Van Thanh has conveyed an official notice from the Government, warning relevant ministerial level bodies and local governments of flooding risks in central provinces. According to the document, heavy rains over the past few days in central and Central Highlands provinces, namely Quang Binh, Quang Tri, Quang Nam, and Quang Ngai, have triggered flooding and mudslides. Such provinces are requested to take measures to curb the damage of flooding and its consequences through rescue efforts, evacuation of residents from … [Read more...] about Vietnam braces for more heavy rains and flooding this month

A disaster rescue officer managed to handle a serious flooding situation to take more than 100 students stranded at an isolated school to safety in the northern Vietnamese province of Tuyen Quang on Wednesday. A heavy rain submerged 38 houses and a large area of crops in water and swept nine buffaloes away in Tuyen Quang’s Lam Binh District in the small hours of that day, according to the committee for natural disaster prevention and search and rescue of Lam Binh District. The premises of Lam Binh Ethnic Minority Boarding Middle School and Lam Binh High School, which are located in a low area near a stream, were most affected and deep under water. The flooding situation confined more than 100 students to the school’s dormitory and caused a panic among them. Upon receiving a report on the incident at the Lam Binh School, Quan Ngoc Hoang, a private of the firefighting and disaster rescue division under the Tuyen Quang Department of Public Security, immediately hit the road to … [Read more...] about Rescuer combats flood to save over 100 students in northern Vietnam

A person went missing, three others were injured, and a lot of damage was recorded after a heavy rain swamped the northern Vietnamese province of Dien Bien on Sunday morning, the Vietnam News Agency reported, citing the provincial committee for natural disaster prevention and control. Rain started pouring down on Dien Bien at 6:00 am on Sunday and triggered a flood in Phi Linh Village, Nam Po District. The flood swept through a hydroelectric tunneling site, where four workers were working, causing one to go missing and injuring the other three. Rescuers arrived at the scene and gave first aid to the three injured workers shortly after, before transporting them to the nearby Muong Cha District medical center for further treatment. The rescuers then began searching for the missing victim, who was believed to be stuck in the tunnel of the hydroelectric construction site. A car moves through mud after a downpour triggered a landslide on National Highway 12 in Dien … [Read more...] about 1 missing, 3 injured as downpour floods northern Vietnamese province

Photographs on Afghan media showed houses reduced to rubble, with bodies swathed in blankets lying on the ground. Helicopters were deployed in the rescue effort to reach the injured and fly in medical supplies and food, said an interior ministry official, Salahuddin Ayubi. "The death toll is likely to rise as some of the villages are in remote areas in the mountains and it will take some time to collect details." Wednesday's quake was the deadliest since 2002. It struck about 44 km (27 miles) from the southeastern city of Khost, near the border with Pakistan, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGC) said. Most of the confirmed deaths were in the eastern province of Paktika, where 255 people were killed and more than 200 injured, Ayubi added. In the province of Khost, 25 were dead and 90 had been taken to hospital. Haibatullah Akhundzada, the supreme leader of the ruling Taliban, offered his condolences in a statement. Mounting a rescue operation could prove a major test for the … [Read more...] about Afghan quake kills 950, toll seen likely to rise

An earthquake of magnitude 6.1 killed 920 people in Afghanistan early on Wednesday, disaster management officials said, with more than 600 injured and the toll expected to grow as information trickles in from remote mountain villages. Photographs on Afghan media showed houses reduced to rubble, with bodies swathed in blankets lying on the ground. Helicopters were deployed in the rescue effort to reach the injured and fly in medical supplies and food, said an interior ministry official, Salahuddin Ayubi. "The death toll is likely to rise as some of the villages are in remote areas in the mountains and it will take some time to collect details." Wednesday's quake was the deadliest since 2002. It struck about 44 km (27 miles) from the southeastern city of Khost, near the border with Pakistan, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGC) said. Most of the confirmed deaths were in the eastern province of Paktika, where 255 people were killed and more than 200 injured, Ayubi added. In the … [Read more...] about Afghan quake kills at least 920; toll expected to rise

Photo taken yesterday shows ambulances on the road in Paktika province, Afghanistan. The death toll from an earthquake that struck eastern Afghanistan early yesterday has reached 920, while more than 600 people were injured, a disaster official said, adding the number of casualties might rise further. — XINHUA/VNA Photo KABUL — A powerful earthquake struck a remote border region of Afghanistan overnight killing at least 1,000 people and injuring hundreds more, officials said yesterday, with the toll expected to rise as desperate rescuers dig through collapsed dwellings. The 5.9 magnitude quake struck hardest in the rugged east, where people already lead hardscrabble lives in a country in the grip of a humanitarian disaster made worse by the Taliban takeover in August. "People are digging grave after grave," said Mohammad Amin Huzaifa, head of the Information and Culture Department in hard-hit Paktika, adding that at least 1,000 people had died in that province alone. … [Read more...] about At least 1,000 killed in Afghan quake as rescuers scramble for survivors

The death toll from an earthquake in Afghanistan on Wednesday hit 1,000, disaster management officials said, with more than 600 injured and the toll expected to grow as information trickles in from remote mountain villages. Houses were reduced to rubble and bodies swathed in blankets lay on the ground after the magnitude 6.1 earthquake, photographs on Afghan media showed. An unknown number of people remained stuck under rubble and in outlying areas, health and aid workers said, and rescue operations were complicated by difficult conditions including heavy rains, landslides and many villages being nestled in inaccessible hillside areas. "Many people are still buried under the soil. The rescue teams of the Islamic Emirate have arrived and with the help of local people are trying to take out the dead and injured," a health worker at a hospital in the hard-hit Paktika province said, asking for anonymity as he was not authorised to speak to media. People carry injured to … [Read more...] about Afghanistan earthquake kills at least 1,000, toll expected to rise

A project to upgrade Xuyen Tam Canal in HCM City was approved in 2002, but to date, it has remained on paper, resulting in serious pollution. Xuyen Tam Canal connects Nhieu Loc-Thi Nghe Canal in Binh Thanh District and Vam Thuan River in Go Vap District. Xuyen Tam Canal is 8.2 kilometres long, consisting of a 6.21-km main section and three branches with a total length of 1.9 kilometres. Temporary houses run along the canal. Many households have been living by the canal for dozens of years. People who live by the canal discharge rubbish and wastewater directly into the canal, worsening the canal’s pollution. It also has not been dredged for many years. A local resident said that her family has to face a bad smell from the canal every day. The pollution is worsening. The canal bed is full of litter after the flood tides retreat. The canal has also narrowed because of houses encroaching on the waterway. Piles of … [Read more...] about HCM City canal awaits two-decade late upgrade

Rapid economic development often results in serious impacts on forests, evidenced by the alarming deforestation in Phu Quoc City in the Mekong Delta province of Kien Giang having plunged the city’s forests into a state of emergency. Forests are regarded as the living soul of residents on the 'pearl island.' However, the woods full of stone stakes and steel wires are disappointing tourists. The situation is becoming truly alarming. Forests seem empty after one unguarded night Deforestation and land encroachment in Phu Quoc City in mid-June 2022 were no longer overt and rampant, but it did not mean that forests stopped 'bleeding.' On the main path from Ham Ninh Commune to Thom Beach, people could easily see excavated mountainsides and forest land areas occupied with concrete stakes, zinc-coated barbed wire fences, and even well-built constructions. “Some gangs secretly encroached and built fences," complained N.X.T., a forest ranger. “During the forest land invasion … [Read more...] about Phu Quoc forests in state of emergency

Rescue workers battled heavy rains and inclement weather to pull out nineteen survivors from the rubble on Thursday morning after the landslide occurred at a railway construction site in the early hours, but said the likelihood of finding any more was thin. "In all there were about 81 people. The chances of survival of the remaining 55 people are very thin considering the fact that the landslide occured around 2 a.m.," Haulianlal Guite, district magistrate of Noney district in Manipur, where the accident occurred, told Reuters by telephone. This month unprecedented rains have lashed India's north-eastern states and neighbouring Bangladesh, killing more than 150 people. Millions have been displaced by the catastrophic floods in recent weeks, and in some low lying areas houses have been submerged. Army helicopters were on standby and assisting in rescue operations at the site of the landslide, a statement from the Indian army said. "Army helicopters are on standby. The … [Read more...] about Seven dead, 55 feared dead in massive eastern Indian landslide