CÀ MAU — Landslides hit two districts of the southernmost province of Cà Mau on Tuesday, damaging four households and incurring losses of some VNĐ700 million (US$30,800).

A landslide occurred on 15m of the Kênh Xáng Cái Ngay canal in Năm Căn District’s Hiệp Tùng Commune at about 2am. It encroached upon 20m of the canal, damaging two houses of resident Phan Minh Thành and resulting in losses of some VNĐ30 million ($1,300).

At about the same time, five houses worth VNĐ650 million ($28,600) along the Cửa Lớn River in Hàng Vịnh Commune were also damaged by a 64m landslide, which encroached upon 6-12m of the mainland.

A working group of the district’s People’s Committee visited the three affected households in Hàng Vịnh Commune on the same morning, giving each household a compensation of VNĐ2 million ($88) and calling for support from locals to help them recover from the incident.

A landslide also hit a stretch of the Cửa Lớn River in the province’s Ngọc Hiển District at 11.30pm on Sunday, dragging half the house of resident Phạm Hồng Chẳng into the river.

Twenty-five houses in Năm Căn District were also damaged by a landslide on May 30, with losses of VNĐ1 billion ($44,000) incurred.

Landslides, alledgedly a result of climate change and heavy rains, have destroyed some 800m of the riverbank, 36 houses, one carpentry workshop, one sawmill and one petrol station in the province since the beginning of the year, according to the province’s Steering Committee for Natural Disaster Prevention and Control.

The provincial authorities have issued warnings on landslides and relocated some 1,000 people residing in landslide-prone areas in Ngọc Hiển District to safer places. They have also reviewed and collected statistics related to damage caused by the natural phenomenon, according to the Dân Trí online newspaper.

At the end of May, the provincial People’s Committee asked the Government to provide VNĐ120 billion ($5.3 million) to build new residential areas for 500 households living in erosion-prone areas in Ngọc Hiển District’s Đất Mũi Commune. — VNS