Hanoi (VNS/VNA) - Vietnam hasmore than 10,200 sites prone to landslide risks located in ten northernmountainous localities, according to the Vietnam Institute of Geosciences andMineral Resources under Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment.

Trinh Xuan Hoa, deputy head of the institute told Vietnam News Agency thatlandslides and flash floods that cause serious consequences of human losses andproperty damage frequently occur in the recent years in provinces of Lao Cai, SonLa, Yen Bai, Hoa Binh, Lai Chau and Thanh Hoa.

Abnormal weather conditions such as prolonged torrential rain and humanactivities including deforestation, mineral exploitation, construction are themain causes of landslides, threatening community safety.

Flash floods and landslides in June last year in northern mountainouslocalities swept away 176 houses, damaged 1,270 others and destroyed more than1,000ha of rice fields. As many as 33 people died and went missing. The totaldamage was estimated at some 535 billion VND (22.8 million USD).

During the 2000-15 period, there were 250 flash floods and landslidesnationwide with 779 people being killed or going missing, 426 others injured.Economic losses were up to dozens of trillions of dong, according to NaturalCalamity Prevention and Control General Department.

Dr Nguyen Duc Manh from the University of Transport and Communications saidthat Vietnam has had a number of geological studies on landslide risks andmapped landslide areas, however, a lot of managers lack attention tolandslides.

“When each rainy season comes, many areas are put on the red alert oflandslides like Xin Man town of Ha Giang province. Although the disaster riskshave been pointed out by researchers and the Government has ordered naturaldisaster prevention, reduction and responding plans, localities remain passivein addressing the problem due to lacking budget,” he said.

“We are fixing landslides at single points where buildings or trafficinfrastructure are located. Most of landslides are fixed only when they happenbut we have not thought about sustainable solutions for the whole residentialareas,” he said.

Deputy head of the Vietnam Institute of Geosciences and Mineral Resources TrinhXuan Hoa said that landslides can be prevented by planting more trees inprotective forests, recovering natural forests, stopping planting trees forexploitations purposes and not building residential areas near landsliderisk-prone sites.

Local people should be aware of how to respond to and reduce damages caused bylandslides during rainy season. Alert devices must be installed at areas proneto high risks of flash floods and landslides, he said.

According to Hoa, there are several solutions to relocate residents from areasprone to landslides. One of them is to move risk-prone people to live in safecommunity. This solution does not need much infrastructure investment butrequires local authorities to offer assistance to people newly moving in.

Another solution is to map safe zones and move all risk-prone residents toresettlement areas. But this solution needs local land space.

In case there are no land funds, local authorities should build dams,embankments and plant protective forests to reduce natural calamity damage.

The Institute of Geosciences and Mineral Resources has completed landslide mapfor 18 out of 37 northern mountainous areas and is doing more research toupdate communes’ landslide details which serve as a reference for localities torelocate residents out of risky areas.-VNS/VNA