Wracked by rain: Vietnam

Toxic landslides after rainstorm

Workers clearing mud at the base of a nearly 300m-high coal-waste pile (background) at the Mong Duong coal mine following heavy rains in Vietnam's northern coastal province of Quang Ninh.
Workers clearing mud at the base of a nearly 300m-high coal-waste pile (background) at the Mong Duong coal mine following heavy rains in Vietnam's northern coastal province of Quang Ninh. PHOTO: AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

QUANG NINH (Vietnam) • Vietnam is struggling to help communities hit by toxic mudslides after torrential rain in a major coal-mining area in northern Quang Ninh province, home to the Unesco-listed Halong Bay tourist site.

Quang Ninh was last week hit by the heaviest rain recorded in 40 years, with up to 800mm in some areas, causing flooding, landslides and toxic sludge spills from coal mines. Seventeen people have been killed, including two families in Mong Duong district who were caught in a toxic mudslide on July 26 which buried the entire community in up to 2m of sludge from a nearby mine.

"In one second, mud and rock smashed into my house. We were lucky to escape with our daughter," primary school teacher To Thi Huyen, 37, recalled. "We have nothing now, as the house and all our assets are in the mud. We don't know what happens next."

About 200 people are living in an emergency shelter set up by local authorities in the area.

Mr Pham Ngoc Lu, a local official in Mong Duong, said they were doing their best to help the affected communities.

"We're providing food and other necessities," he said.

Vietnam's famed Halong Bay heritage site is surrounded by thousands of hectares of open-face coal mines and multiple coal-fired power plants. The torrential rain has caused sludge from the mines to spill onto local communities, creating what activists call immediate and ongoing health and environmental hazards.

"We are deeply concerned by the pace of this unfolding disaster and its sheer scale," said Mr Robert Kennedy, president of Waterkeeper Alliance, an NGO that campaigns for clean drinking water.

At the Mong Duong coal mine, production has been suspended since the rains hit last week.

The mine was affected by mudslides, but was not the source of the deluge that hit the nearby community - which came from another coal mine. Bulldozers and trucks are working through the night to clear the mud at the mine itself, said company official Tran Quang Canh.

"We're trying to save the mine and recover our production to keep our more than 4,000 labourers employed," Mr Canh said.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.

A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on August 03, 2015, with the headline Toxic landslides after rainstorm . Subscribe