29 June 2018

Lai Chau: multiple landslides in Vietnam in recent days

Posted by Dave Petley

Lai Chau: multiple landslides in Vietnam in recent days

In the last few days heavy rainfall in Lai Chau in the north of Vietnam has triggered multiple landslidesThe most impressive of these was captured on a video:-

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The video shows that when the landslide occurred there were excavators working on the slope, one of which can be seen in the still below:-

Lai Chau

One of the landslides in Lai Chai, Vietnam, highlighting one of the two excavators that was caught up in the slide. Still from a Youtube video.

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This article in Tuoi Tre News, which also has a video of the landslide from a different article, indicates that the driver of one of the excavators managed to escape his vehicle before the landslide, whilst the other went over the cliff with his machine.  Remarkably he survived and was rescued:

Pham Van Sang and his colleague were using separate excavators to clear mud and rocks left from a recent landslide on a section of National Highway 12 in Sin Ho District, Lai Chau on Tuesday evening when a new mudslide sent a fresh wave of debris tumbling down a mountain flanking the road.  While his colleague managed to evacuate his machine in time, Sang was still inside his excavator when it was pushed off a 50-meter-high cliff.  After the fall, Sang managed to climb about three meters back up the cliff before passing out from fatigue. 

He was later brought to the Lai Chau Province Hospital for emergency treatment. The victim suffered three broken ribs, injuries to two vertebrae and his cheekbone, and pulmonary effusion, doctors said, adding that they performed an emergency surgery to remove fluid from his lungs.

Others have been less fortunate.  Reports suggest that these landslides and floods have killed at least 23 people.  One of the most significant events occurred at Nam Ha in Sin Ho district, where a landslide swept through the village on 24th June.  The image below shows the landslide; at least four people were killed:-

Lai Chau

Ther landslide at Nam Ha in Lai Chau, Vietnam, which killed at least four people. Image from Voice of Vietnam.

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Landslides are a growing menace in Vietnam in both mountainous areas and along rivers.