Farmers reel from mass livestock death after severe floods rack central Vietnam
Friday, December 14, 2018, 10:58 GMT+7
The economic devastation caused by this week’s flood in disaster-prone central Vietnam is beginning to sink in as farmers begin to realize the financial burden of losing thousands of poultry and cattle to drowning.
A massive storm triggered massive floods in several provinces along the central coast, including Quang Nam, Thua Thien-Hue, Quang Tri and Binh Dinh.
Official data released following the disaster shows that 14,000 pigs, cows, chickens, and ducks died from drowning in Quang Nam alone before Wednesday morning, when floodwaters began to subside.
Most of the animals died in their cages as floodwaters rose too quickly for farmers to move their livestock to higher ground.
By the time the storm passed, the bodies of thousands of dead animals were swept into iron fences and strewn throughout bamboo forests.
Farmers are seen with their dead chickens after a flood in Quang Nam Province, central Vietnam, December 12, 2018. Video: Tuoi Tre
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| Chicken bodies are stuck on a fence at a farm in Quang Nam Province, central Vietnam, December 12, 2018. Photo: Tuoi Tre |
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| A man collects chicken bodies stuck on a fence at a farm in Quang Nam Province, central Vietnam, December 12, 2018. Photo: Tuoi Tre |
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| A farmer is seen with chickens drowned in floodwaters in Quang Nam Province, central Vietnam, December 12, 2018. Photo: Tuoi Tre |
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| Two farmers put flood-drowned chickens into a bag in Quang Nam Province, central Vietnam, December 12, 2018. Photo: Tuoi Tre |
Nguyen Thanh, a local farmer, was stunned when he realized that only 200 of his 3,000 chickens had survived, an estimated loss of VND100 million ($4,300).
This also means he has no way to pay back the lenders who had given him money to purchase the animals.
Another farmer in Quang Nam, Do Tri Thuc, lost nearly 10,000 quails to the flood.
It took just a few hours for waters to rise more than two meters, Thuc said.
“I’ve lost everything,” he shared, a lament shared by hundreds of other farmers struggling to recover from the storm.
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| Chicken bodies lie on the ground at a farm in Quang Nam Province, central Vietnam, December 12, 2018. Photo: Tuoi Tre |
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| A farmer stands near his surviving chickens after a flood in Quang Nam Province, central Vietnam, December 12, 2018. Photo: Tuoi Tre |
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| A man shows quails drowned in floodwaters at his farm in Quang Nam Province, central Vietnam, December 12, 2018. Photo: Tuoi Tre |
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| A man shows rotten quail eggs at his farm after a flood in Quang Nam Province, central Vietnam, December 12, 2018. Photo: Tuoi Tre |
A man shows putrid quail bodies at his flood-stricken farm in Quang Nam Province, central Vietnam, December 12, 2018. Video: Tuoi Tre
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