Guest Blog by Le Bich
Vietnam has had severe weather problems recently. Between 12 and 28 September, heavy rain occurred in the country, as well as in north and central Burma, Thailand, and northern Lao PDR. This, combined with high tides, resulted in water levels rising in the Mekong river, reaching critical levels in early October.
Between 28 September and 5 October three tropical storms/typhoons hit the coast. Tropical Storm Haitang made landfall in the central provinces of Ha Tinh and Thua Thien Hue provinces, while Typhoon Nesat ploughed into northern Vietnam after hitting the Philippines. In Vietnam, the rain further raised water levels in the Mekong, took the roofs off houses, sank boats, and inundated over 11,000 ha of paddy fields. As if that wasn’t enough, then Typhoon Nalgae entered Vietnam near Quang Bình and Ha Tinh provinces.
Since then, the Mekong Delta has seen its worst flooding in 11 years. Nearly 50 people have lost their lives in Vietnam so far (while hundreds have died in the floods in Thailand and Cambodia). As I write, tens of thousands of hectares of farm land and aquatic farming areas are inundated. Schools have been forced to close. Water levels have made it very difficult to transport by road as some routes are under 2-4 metres of flood water. Landslides and broken dykes have aggravated the situation. Floods have washed away small bridges, swamped nearly 160,000 houses, and forced tens of thousands of people to evacuation. More than 27,000 hectares of paddy/crop fields have been flooded, with at least 7,000 hectares completely devastated. High water levels are expected until the end of October.
For Vietnam, this poses a worrying question. Under climate change, the sea level is expected to rise by 70-100 cm by the end of this century. This could severely affect the low lying Red River and Mekong Deltas. The Mekong delta produces more than half of Vietnam’s rice and 90% of its grain exports. Vietnam is the world’s second-largest rice exporter, after Thailand – which of course has also been severely hit by floods. This devastation in South East Asia has caused worries about food price increases, given the enormous area of rice paddy fields under water. Water-borne diseases triggered by the death of livestock and poultry swept away by the floods are also posing a threat to flood victims.
Though neither storms nor flooding are new phenomena in a country with a tropical monsoon climate like Vietnam, for the past few years Vietnam has been suffering more frequent and vicious storms than previously. And it seems likely that these severe climatic events will continue in the future. The government has instituted a strategy called ‘Living With Floods’, which includes improved early warning. But this is only part of the solution. Co-operation between international donors, local governments and of course the local community itself will be needed if Vietnam is going to properly tackle the increased risk of severe climate impacts.
Le Bich is Climate Change Officer at the British Embassy in Hanoi