Local residents are temporarily evacuated to tents nearby. — Photo courtesy of Vàng Seo Chứ

LÀO CAI — One man's bold decision to evacuate the residents of his village in the northern mountainous province of Lào Cai saved more than 100 people from disaster, after authorities believed the village was lost in a landslide following Typhoon Yagi.

On Monday morning, it was pouring rain in Kho Vàng Village in Cốc Lầu Commune, Bắc Hà District – and it had been raining steadily since Sunday night.

Head of the village Vàng Seo Chứ, 33, was very anxious, because the village is surrounded by hills that were saturated with water. Chứ knew the hillsides could collapse on people's houses at any time.

"It rained all night long – I was very worried," he said. "At 8am that same day, I called some residents to go up the hill together to check the landslide situation and we found a high, flat hill. We discussed an evacuation plan for the people."

About 30 minutes later, following reports of a high risk of landslides, Chứ tried to call the commune leaders for more information – but his phone had no signal and he was unable to contact authorities.

“The rain was still pouring down on the village until 9am, so I decided to evacuate all 17 households with 115 people to a mountain 1km away from the village,” he said.

Chứ and young villagers had built 14 huts covered with tarpaulins and anchored them firmly on the flat mountainside with bamboo stakes.

The evacuation took place as quickly as possible on Monday morning.

Women and children helped clean the shelters and prepared food and drinks for all of the villagers to spend the night.

“About 4km below our residential area, there is another residential area in the same village. However, this area is located close to the Chảy River bank. The road was seriously eroded and there was no phone signal, so I couldn't reach the people to tell them about my evacuation plan,” said Chứ.

By Tuesday, floodwaters had caused landslides, changing the water's flow and flooding the lower residential area. The disaster left three people missing, injured three others and completely swept away seven houses.

“This is too painful," he said.

The village chief said that fortunately, the day before the landslide, 115 people in his village had time to evacuate to the mountain. If they hadn't, the consequences would have been unpredictable.

'Thought the village disappeared'

Cốc Lầu Commune authorities on Tuesday learned that a landslide in Kho Vàng Village caused many people to be declared missing.

Nguyễn Văn Tuấn, chairman of the commune People's Committee, tried in vain to contact the village head.

Due to the landslide, Kho Vàng Village was completely isolated.

Local authorities travelled 15km before they finally found the 115 villagers sheltering on the mountainside on Wednesday at noon.

After finding the villagers, commune leaders assigned units to transport food and issued guidance to help the villagers stabilise their lives and prevent further disaster.

"Everyone was happy at that time. After receiving necessities, we were ordered to continue sheltering temporarily in the high mountain area until the commune came up with a new plan to bring them back home," Chứ said, adding that the amount of food was enough for the people to take refuge for two weeks.

Chứ said the commune's police and authorities were overjoyed to find the villagers, because everyone had thought the whole village had been swept away by the landslide and subsequent flooding.

Bold decision

Head of Kho Vàng Village Vàng Seo Chứ. — Photo courtesy of Chứ

Nguyễn Văn Tuấn, chairman of the Cốc Lầu Commune People’s Committee, said that he was very surprised by Chứ's decision to evacuate 115 people to the mountain for refuge.

“At first, we thought that the people were still at home, or had taken other measures, but we did not think Chứ would take all 115 people to the mountain like that. It was truly a bold decision," said Tuấn.

Tuấn said that Chứ is a quick-witted and very creative person.

The village chief is well known in the community. He is married and has a lot of experience living in the mountains.

"He was just elected as village chief. This is probably the first time he has instructed the people and come up with such an unexpected flood prevention plan, and it was very effective and safe," said Tuấn. — VNS