Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Tran Hong Ha is speaking (Source: VNA) Ha made the promise during a working sessionwith leaders of An Giang province on April 25, which came following a seriouslandslide along the Vam Nao river in My Hoi Dong commune, Cho Moi district, pullingdown 14 houses and forcing many local people to evacuate.
At the session, the minister asked the VietnamEnvironment Administration to ensure all river dredging and sand miningprojects must submit environmental impact assessment reports.
Director of the provincial Department ofNatural Resources and Environment Tran Dang Duc said the province recorded 20riverside landslides in 2015 and 18 others in 2016, damaging 142 houses andmany other assets with estimated annual losses of more than 100 billion VND(4.34 million USD).
He attributed the landslide in My Hoi Dongcommune to a natural disaster and asked the Ministry of Natural Resources andEnvironment (MoNRE) to study the flows of the Tien and Hau rivers to seeksolutions to the disaster.
According to him, 90 local houses are now atrisk of collapsing while 107 households and a mill have been relocated. Initialloss are estimated at nearly 9 billion VND (391,000 USD).
The provincial authorities suggested the ministrydevise a housing support policy to evacuate 20,000 landslide-prone householdsin the next five years. They also asked for governmental financial support todeal with the disasters.-VNA
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