The clean-up in Hà Nội is underway to try and get life back to normal as soon as possible. — Photo courtesy of Andrew King @an_kingphoto

Alex Reeves - @afreeves23

When writing about something, you can shoot your shot too early. When you’re trying to be topical, something catches your interest one week, falls away from public consciousness the next, with good reason. As with my article two weeks ago talking about the impacts of heavy rainfall and bad weather, discussing what now, in the wake of Typhoon Yagi, seems a rather trivial video of a tourist swimming in a flooded street.

Since seeing the destruction, some of it first hand, I’ve seen many videos far more worthy of sharing, all significantly more ‘real’ than an inebriated stunt. Some have been terrifying, seeing windows torn from a high rise on your screen, as the glass separating you from the storm bends back and forth in your own apartment, is not exactly reassuring. Others have been a heart warming reminder of Việt Nam’s resilience and community in the face of adversity.

Infrastructure and the environment itself, picked up and thrown as though they were the toys of some tyrannical meteorological toddler, having the ultimate tantrum. A truly indiscriminate mother nature, destroying herself and everything contained within. On the other side, a country that is no stranger to rebuilding, with a population of community conscious individuals that get on with the reality, an admirable combination of bravery and stoicism etched across their faces.

It isn’t pretty and the floods, which at the time of writing have seen schools evacuated, entire rural areas submerged, collapsed bridges and a Red River bank on the brink, have left us with a growing toll of fatalities and work to do in restoring the city to something resembling pre disaster sanity. The digital legacy of this event won’t only be one of devastation but also of people helping each other, community in action. From larger cars protecting bikes across windy bridges to party men in official looking hats and luminous ponchos, clearing away tree debris with machetes.

A lot more of this will be needed in the coming days and I’m humbled by the amount of friends who have already headed out to see what support they can offer. I know they aren’t alone and will resume once the flooding is over. My heart goes out equally in two directions, to those who have lost loved ones and livelihoods to this event, and to those who are embracing their civic duty to serve in whatever capacity they are able to.

Less than a fortnight since the anniversary of Independence Day, Việt Nam once again shows what it is capable of when people care for one another. Rather aptly this week, I am teaching my student’s the virtues of collectivism; I won’t be short of examples. From everyone at Việt Nam News - stay safe out there. VNS