The muds

Eighteen people were confirmed dead on Monday and at least 200 others were missing after a devastating flash flood in India thought to have been caused by a chunk of glacier breaking off. The resulting wall of water and debris barrelled down a tight valley in India's Himalayan north on Sunday morning, destroying bridges, roads and hitting two hydroelectric power plants. "There was a cloud of dust as the water went by. The ground shook like an earthquake," local inhabitant Om Agarwal told Indian TV. The Uttarakhand state government said on Monday 18 bodies have been recovered, and chief minister Trivendra Singh Rawat said at least 200 people were still unaccounted for. Most of those missing were working at the two power plants. Some were trapped in two tunnels cut off by the floods and by mud and rocks. "If this incident happened in the evening, after work hours, the situation wouldn't have been this bad as labourers and workers in and around the work sites would have been at home," Rawat told reporters. Twelve people were rescued from one of the tunnels on Sunday but 25-35 more were still trapped in the second one, state disaster relief official Piyoosh Rautela told AFP. With the main road washed away, paramilitary rescuers had to scale down a hillside on ropes to reach the entrance. Emergency workers were using heavy machinery to remove tonnes of rocks. "Approximately 80 metres (260 feet) inside the tunnel is cleared and accessible. It appears that approximately 100 metres of debris inside the tunnel is yet to be cleared," said Vivek Kumar Pandey, another disaster official. Several hundred rescue workers resumed their search operation at first light on Monday including national and state disaster response teams, the army and navy diving teams. - Disaster movie - Scores of social media users captured the disaster, with footage showing water tearing through the narrow valley with terrifying force. "We were 300 meters inside the tunnel working. …

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  Making tools for catching mud crabs in Cà Mau Province’s Trần Văn Thời District. The job of making tools has helped improve the incomes of many rural people. – VNA/VNS Photo Hồng Nhung CÀ MAU — The Cửu Long (Mekong) Delta province of Cà Mau targets a 0.3 percentage point reduction in the poverty rate this year, according to its Fatherland Front Committee. Phan Mộng Thành, deputy chairman of the committee, said poor households would be carefully identified together with socio-political and religious organisations, and specific measures would be taken to help every poor and near-poor household escape poverty. The measures include helping them carry out small trade, breed animals or grow crops, he said.   The number of poor households had reduced from 9.94 per cent in 2016 to 2.25 per cent at the end of 2019, but they still number more than 10,900.  To help the poor household escape poverty sustainably, the Fatherland Front Committee plans to mobilise resources from society through the Fund for the Poor and the Social Welfare Fund for welfare policies. Each grassroots level branch of all socio-political and other organisations will help one poor or near-poor household escape poverty, or help prevent a newly escaped one fall back into poverty. Last year more than 3,000 households escaped poverty, exceeding the target set by the People’s Committee by 11 per cent. Of the 3,000, 2,400 were assisted by the Fatherland Front Committee and other organisations. Thành said to achieve this, the families were helped with production or business and obtaining soft loans for the purpose. The Fatherland Front Committee has mobilised more than VNĐ71 billion (US$3 million) for the fund and used it to build 84 rural bridges, build or repair 1,941 houses belonging to the poor, drill 92 wells, give 26,000 gifts and donate nearly 130 tonnes of rice, and provide health …

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The Mekong Delta province of Bac Lieu will spend nearly VND19.3 trillion (US$835 million) to build erosion-prevention projects in the 2021 - 30 period. An eroded canal in Bac Lieu Province’s Vinh Loi District.  Erosion along rivers, canals and coastal areas has increased, threatening the safety of people and their property as well as infrastructure projects, according to the provincial People’s Committee. In 2021- 25, the province will build 16 erosion-prevention projects along rivers and canals, nine coastal erosion-prevention projects, one residential resettlement project for erosion-affected households, and one project to repair and upgrade the transport system. In 2026 - 30, the province will build 21 erosion-prevention projects along rivers and canals, one residential resettlement project for erosion-affected households, and one project to repair and upgrade transport system. The province has 39 erosion sites along rivers and canals, with an erosion rate of 1 – 2 metres inland each year. The erosion sites are located at many rivers and canals, including the Ganh Hao River, Ca Mau – Bac Lieu Canal, April 30 Canal, Quang Lo Gia Rai Canal and Lang Tram Canal.      The province has about 15 kilometres of coastal areas that erode year round. It has three "acutely dangerous" coastal erosion sites and one coastal erosion site described as "dangerous". The impact of weather like storms and heavy rains, high tides, and the travel of boats as well as human factors cause erosion along rivers and coastal areas. Illegal sand mining and illegal construction of houses and other works in banned areas along rivers and canals are the major human factors that cause erosion along rivers and canals. Pham Van Thieu, chairman of the provincial People’s Committee, said that localities should develop prevention plans and closely …

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