Erosion along a bank of the Ô Môn River in Cần Thơ City.VNS File Photo/TTXVN.

HCM CITY — Provinces and cities in the Mekong Delta have suffered land erosion for decades, with hundreds of hectares being washed away along with many houses.

According to figures released at a conference on solutions for landslides along coasts, river banks and embankments in the delta held by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development in Cà Mau in April, there have been 562 cases in the region involving a total length of 786km.

Every year 300-500ha of land are lost to water.

Reports from the Long An Province Committee for Disaster Prevention and Fighting show that in the first half of this year eight houses were destroyed and seven others toppled into the Vàm Cỏ Tây River.

Provincial authorities have asked the Government for funds for urgent tasks such as a 300m embankment along a section of the Vàm Cỏ Tây in Lơi Bình Nhơn Commune in Tân An town, an embankment in Nhựt Ninh Commune in Tân Trụ District and resettling 138 households in Thạnh Vĩnh Đông Commune in Châu Thành District.

A delegation from An Giang Province led by People’s Committee Chairman Nguyễn Thanh Bình inspected a section of National Highway No 91 in Bình Mỹ Commune, Châu Phú District, which faces the risk of sliding into the Hậu River.

Bình instructed relevant authorities in the district and commune to move people living in the area to safety and instal traffic signs to warn drivers of the danger.

According to the Cà Mau Province People’s Committee, 105km of coast in both the eastern and western parts face the risk of landslides.

The eastern coast loses 50-100 metres to the sea and the western coast, 20-50 metres.

The landslides also cause Cà Mau to lose vast areas of protective forests and take away job opportunities.

Lê Minh Luận, who lives in the Bồ Đề Estuary in Tam Giang Đông Commune of Năm Căn District, said 20 years ago his family was among those living in a hamlet some 200m from the sea.

But the sea eroded the area in the last few years and all households in the hamlet were forced to evacuate, he said.

The place was so badly affected that his family in fact had to evacuate twice in the last three years. — VNS.