Heavy rains and winds flattened or blew off the roofs of nearly 30 houses in Cà Mau City’s Tắc Vân Commune on August 9. – VNA/VNS Photo Huỳnh Thế Anh

CÀ MAU — The Cà Mau Province People’s Committee has asked the central Government for VNĐ1.4 trillion (US$60.4 million) to relocate families living in natural disaster-prone areas to new residential areas built in 2016-25.
It immediately wants VNĐ140 billion ($6 million) to resettle 646 families in erosion-prone areas along rivers and coasts in Năm Căn, Ngọc Hiển and Đầm Dơi districts to new residential areas and help stabilise their lives and livelihoods in the new places.
The amount will be used to build four new resettlement areas.
One of them will be in Hamlets 1 and 2 in Năm Căn Town at a cost of VNĐ32 billion, and it will accommodate 52 households.  
Another will be in Ngọc Hiển District’s Đất Mũi Commune, where 270 families will be moved.  
With the sea bordering it on three sides and having many rivers and canals, the province is frequently affected by natural disasters, especially erosion.
Early this month heavy rains and winds flattened 156 houses and blew off the roofs of 817 houses and one school, according to the province’s Steering Committee for Natural Disaster Prevention and Control, Research and Rescue.
Besides, during the period high tides flooded 1,845 houses, 2,540 rural roads and 100ha of summer-autumn rice, erosion along rivers damage six houses and two fishing boats were sunk by strong winds and waves.
All these added up to losses of VNĐ32 billion ($1.38 million), according to the steering committee.
Last week, the People’s Committee announced there had been serious erosion along the sea dyke on the west coast and took measures to consolidate it. VNS