New Hope in the Gold Vault

Comrade Tran Quang Dung, Standing Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee of Vietnam National Oil and Gas Group, and leaders of Lao Cai province discussed the reconstruction of Kho Vang village.

Horrifying memories

We arrived at Coc Lau commune, Bac Ha, Lao Cai when the aftermath of the "great flood" was still lingering.

On the inter-district road, along the banks of the Chay River, each section has signs and barriers warning of landslides. Mounds of earth and mud push out to cover the entire road surface. Bulldozers have to continuously level the road to make way.

Under the Chay River, the water is still rolling red with alluvium, the two banks of the river have become a “gathering place” for garbage, tree trunks and branches washed away from upstream. On the negative side, the water force has eroded deep into the road, creating a creepy frog’s jaw – it could collapse at any moment.

Temporary shelter of people in Kho Vang village, next to the People's Committee of the commune.

Also along the riverbank, at the People's Committee of Coc Lau commune, there are currently nearly 20 shacks where people are temporarily staying. These are also households from Kho Vang village, who were led by village chief Ma Seo Chu to "escape the flood" on September 9.

Being here since early morning of September 21, we could see that the tents and sheds here were built quite firmly with two or three layers of canvas. Inside the houses there were beds, mats, blankets, etc. Electricity had also been brought to each household.

Ms. Hang Thi Say (28 years old) living in Kho Vang village shared that in the past few days, many volunteer groups have donated rice, instant noodles, bottled water, clothes, etc., so the lives of the people are quite stable. When asked about her family situation, Ms. Say tearfully recounted.

She was born and raised in Coc Lau, after getting married she moved to her husband's house in Kho Vang village. Here, the family mainly lives by agriculture . Every day, she and her husband take care of the rice fields, grow cassava and corn, and raise buffalo, goats, chickens...

Ms. Hang Thi Say recalls the terrifying memories she and her family just experienced.

“Those days were pouring rain, floodwaters from upstream caused traffic disruption, no one dared to leave their homes. Many houses in low-lying areas were flooded up to the house level. Hearing Mr. Chu’s advice, I quickly carried one child, my husband carried the other and ran to a higher hill, nearly 1km away from the old house. A few days ago, when my husband returned to the old house, he saw that many belongings had been swept away by the water, the rice fields and acacia hills were also flooded… All the family’s efforts were lost. We don’t know where to hold on to now” – Ms. Say sobbed.

Giang Seo Pho, 20 years old, holding his 7-month-old baby, shared with us. In the old village, his family made a living by farming, growing cinnamon and cassava. On the day of the flood, water flooded the house. Pho quickly called his wife, grabbed a mat, some clothes and ran after the village chief Chu.

Mr. Giang Seo Pho still remembers the dogs that his family did not have time to bring with them.

“It’s safe here now, but I still miss the dogs. The day I left, they ran after me but I couldn’t carry them across the river. I wonder if they’ve found anything to eat these past few days…”- Mr. Pho said with tears in his eyes.

Stop for a moment, Mr. Pho said.

“The other day I heard that the province and businesses will support the construction of houses for villagers in a new location, I am very happy. However, from that location to my rice fields is still too far, and I still cannot go there. I hope the government will support the construction of a road so that I can go back to plant and cultivate.”

Mr. Sung Seo Dua (30 years old, also from Kho Vang village) and his wife have 3 small children, so on the day of the flood, he was so busy carrying his children that he couldn't bring anything with him. Luckily, on the day he returned to the hut next to the commune committee, he received support from the authorities and benefactors such as rice, salt, clothes, etc.

Talking about his old home, Mr. Dua burst into tears. “The flood washed away the road home. When I drove back here, the rice was ripe but I couldn’t harvest it yet. At the old house, there was still rice but I couldn’t mill it. I hope the government will rebuild the road for the people to use…”

Overview of the groundbreaking ceremony for the reconstruction of the entire residential area of ​​Kho Vang village.

New Hope

Responding to the call of the Party, the State and the Central Committee of the Vietnam Fatherland Front, with the consent of the Prime Minister, with the tradition of mutual love, affection and social responsibility, Petrovietnam proactively proposed to coordinate with Lao Cai province to undertake the reconstruction of the residential area of ​​Kho Vang village, ensuring a stable, safe and long-term life for the people. The resettlement area of ​​Kho Vang village is expected to be 2.5 hectares wide and provide accommodation for about 40 households.

According to comrade Tran Quang Dung, Standing Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee of the Vietnam National Oil and Gas Group (Petrovietnam), the new residential area will fully meet the daily living needs of the people according to the new rural standards. In particular, the design and construction of the new residential area will be based on the cultural characteristics, customs and practices of the Dao and Mong ethnic groups - the two main ethnic groups in Kho Vang village. The new location is about 1.5km away from the old location of the village.

On the morning of September 21, Petrovietnam coordinated with local authorities to organize the groundbreaking ceremony for the reconstruction of Kho Vang village residential area.

Mr. Ma Seo Giao came early with his baby on his back to witness the groundbreaking ceremony.

Carrying his son on his back and trying to arrive early at the groundbreaking ceremony, Mr. Ma Seo Giao, a resident of Kho Vang village, said that he and his wife have 6 children, the youngest of whom is 2-year-old Ma Seo Toan, who is sleeping soundly on his back. The flood and landslides have taken away all of his house, fields, and cinnamon plantations on 2 hills. “Now we have nothing, we don’t know how to feed our children!”, Mr. Ma Seo Giao shared with us.

Pausing for a moment, he said, when the village chief informed us that new houses would be built for many households in Kho Vang, my wife and I were very happy. Because we would no longer have to worry about “floods” every time there was a storm. I hope the government can arrange a new place for us to cultivate, so that moving and going to the fields would be faster, and we would have less trouble.

People in Kho Vang village are excited because they are about to have new houses.

Also present at the groundbreaking ceremony early, Ms. Sung Seo Du recounted that she still could not forget the day of the storm, when floodwaters rushed in and flooded her house. While her husband, wife, and children were extremely worried, not knowing what to do, the village chief Ma Seo Chu came to her house to persuade her to go and escape the flood.

“During the days in the shack, my family was hungry because we didn’t have time to bring food. Luckily, after only two days, the government found us and brought us to the committee. Today, I was able to attend the groundbreaking ceremony for the new village, I was very happy. I hope my family can return to the new house soon, because the current place is very hot and stuffy, and there are no desks for the children to study…”, Ms. Du shared.

Meeting Ms. Hang Thi Say again at the groundbreaking site, she was no longer crying but smiling. “My husband and I are very happy. We just hope that the government will do it quickly so that our family can have a stable life,” she said.

New hope was kindled, when just 2 weeks before, Mr. Ma Seo Giao and many people in Kho Vang village were extremely miserable and heartbroken.

“Danko of the village”

It is known that Kho Vang village was merged from two villages Kho Lac and Ban Vang, with a total of several dozen households scattered in many residential clusters stretching about 7km.

When talking about Kho Vang village, we cannot help but mention the village chief Ma Seo Chu. Although he is young, he made a very quick and wise decision to move all 17 households of the village to a safer place and was considered as the "Danko of the village".

Village Chief Ma Seo Chu - Danko of Kho Vang village people.

Also due to sudden floods, dozens of other households in the "lower area" lost their homes, and some people died or went missing. "At that time, the residential area was cut off by floodwaters, and there was no phone signal, so we could not contact the authorities to ask for advice. Because we had been informed and trained many times, I thought we should proactively take the people to evacuate first," said Mr. Chu.

Especially on the morning of September 9, Chu was very anxious because around the village there were many hills that were "full of water", which could be eroded and collapsed, burying Kho Vang village. Before that, the authorities of Coc Lau commune had warned that the impact of storm No. 3 would cause heavy rain, with the possibility of landslides in many places.

Seeing the rain not stopping, his intuition told him that the big hill behind the residential area could collapse at any moment, Mr. Chu quickly consulted with the party members and decided to call some young men in the village to survey the surrounding situation.

Mr. Chu mobilized 7 young men in the village to form a group to inspect the hill above the village. During the inspection, a crack 20cm wide and about 30m long was discovered. Notably, the location where the crack was discovered was right on the hill, about 100m from Kho Vang village.

“It rained all night long, I was very worried. At 8am on September 9, I called my brothers to go up the hill to check the landslide situation and find a high, flat hill or mountain to gradually calculate the evacuation plan for the people. At 8:30am, people reported that there was a high risk of landslides, I called the commune to report but the phone was completely out of signal, I couldn’t contact them,” said Ma Seo Chu.

At 9am the same day, the rain was still pouring down on the village, so Mr. Chu immediately decided to evacuate all 17 households with 115 people in the village to a mountain 1km away from the village. The evacuation was carried out as quickly as possible.

Before evacuating to the new accommodation, Mr. Chu informed everyone to only bring essential items such as blankets, bowls, chopsticks, pots and pans, and a little rice to cook, because it was still raining heavily and the travel time was very urgent.

“From the time of discovery until everyone safely arrived at the camp, it was only about 8 hours. By 4 p.m. on September 9, all 115 people had reached safety. After everyone arrived, the next day, the hill behind collapsed right into the village area,” Mr. Chu recalled.

Although they were safe at the shelter, the difficulty that the people faced was the lack of food and water, because they had very little to bring with them. Therefore, in addition to monitoring the flood situation, the people of Kho Vang village also took turns surveying the roads to the surrounding villages and the roads to the commune to seek help. However, all roads were flooded.

While the people were facing many difficulties, at noon on September 11, the authorities found the villagers. “When the authorities found us, we were extremely happy, knowing that we had been saved. Everyone brought instant noodles and dry food to help us solve our immediate food needs. The next day, the commune and district authorities brought a lot of relief goods to help the people stabilize their lives,” said Ma Seo Chu.

According to comrade Tran Quang Dung, September 21 - the day of the project's groundbreaking - is a Saturday - for many agencies and businesses, it is a day off, but for nearly 60,000 Oil and Gas workers, it is "Volunteer Saturday". All employees in the industry work an extra day to save money to participate in social security activities in general, including the reconstruction of Kho Vang village in particular.

Comrade Tran Quang Dung also, on behalf of the leaders, officers and employees of Petrovietnam, would like to send to the leaders of the Provincial Party Committee, People's Council, People's Committee, Fatherland Front Committee of Lao Cai province, Bac Ha district, and Coc Lau commune his warm regards and wishes for strength and courage to rise up and overcome difficulties; wishing Kho Vang village to soon become the "gold mine" of Coc Lau commune, Bac Ha district, and Lao Cai province.

Minh Tien - Thanh Ngoc

Source: https://www.pvn.vn/chuyen-muc/tap-doan/tin/dc0e408e-2805-48d6-99b6-0c9e1349fbf1