The lives and property of people living along the banks of rivers in Dong Thap Province in the Mekong Delta are being threatened by severe erosion despite the current dry season.

A survey by the Irrigational Works Department of Dong Thap showed that 40 communes from nine districts are suffering land erosion along a total of 31km of local rivers.

In some places erosion has claimed 40 meters of land from riverbanks.

The entire province lost over 15 hectares of land to erosion from 2014 to the first two months of this year.

Nguyen Phuoc Thang in Long Thuan Commune of Hong Ngu District said he lost most of his house in just a night to erosion.

“Months ago, the river bank was still dozens of meters away from my house, but it’s here now,” he moaned.

Phu Thuan Islet in Hong Ngu District has suffered the most damage from erosion.

Le Van Hung, head of the Irrigational Works Department, said erosion taking place in the dry season may be the result of weak foundations and the change of water flows.

Another Mekong Delta province, Tien Giang, has seen a similar situation recently, with Cau Muong Hamlet of Tan Thanh Commune in Go Cong Dong District hit the hardest.

“Over 10 hectares of land in this commune has been lost to erosion,” said Ngo Phi Truong, head of the People’s Committee of the commune. “Forty-seven houses have been damaged.”

In related disaster news, the central province of Quang Ngai has had two people killed and over 2,600 hectares of rice inundated by floodwater in recent times.

The central province of Quang Nam had nearly 3,000 hectares of crops damaged, causing a loss of VND82 billion (US$3.8 million).

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