Responding to climate change and natural disasters: Need for science and long-term

1 (2) — Authorities search for missing people due to a landslide on National Highway 40B, passing through Bac Tra My district (old) on November 11, 2020. Photo: CONG TU

In fact, mountainous areas often suffer severe consequences from natural disasters, especially flash floods and landslides. Storm No. 9 occurred near the end of October 2020, causing prolonged rain. The land was saturated, and when it rained heavily, it was like a mass of liquid mud that quickly slid down, causing terrifying flash floods in the mountainous areas of Quang Nam province (old). According to statistics in 2020, there were 5 landslides and flash floods in the province that caused serious damage.

In the delta, in addition to being directly affected by storms, people also face the risk of landslides along the river, threatening their lives, homes, and loss of productive land. For example, the heavy rains that lasted for two days on June 11 and 12 due to the impact of storm No. 1 caused the Thu Bon River to rise, the water flowed rapidly, swirled into the banks, causing landslides and washing away productive land in Bau Tron - a famous vegetable growing area of Dai Loc commune. Voters in localities along the Thu Bon and Vu Gia rivers have repeatedly voiced their recommendations to consider investing in solid embankments to ensure settlement and production.

1(2).jpg — After heavy rain, Tam Ky streets were flooded again. Photo: MY LINH

In recent years, under the impact of climate change, weather developments have been unpredictable, even extreme. Located in an area strongly affected by natural disasters, Da Nang city needs solutions to arrange and stabilize the population associated with production, especially in mountainous areas; urban drainage...

First of all, the city should prioritize reviewing, planning and implementing planning in a scientific and long-term manner. In particular, it is necessary to carefully survey, plan and build residential areas in mountainous areas located in locations that avoid the risk of landslides and are not affected by the impact of erratic flow causing flash floods and landslides.

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Mr. Tran Duy Dung, former Chairman of the People's Committee of Nam Tra My district (old) said that two landslides occurred in Tra Leng and Tra Van communes (old) on October 28, 2020, causing a tragic tragedy. Through the advice of experts and scientists and the actual situation, the locality has mobilized resources to build new residential areas in flat, high places with land for production so that people can settle down long-term and safely.

According to experts, the historic flood in Da Nang in October 2022 had many causes. Notably, the rainfall in 6 hours exceeding 500mm was very large; the high tide slowed down the flood drainage process. On the contrary, the capacity of the drainage system could not meet the demand. However, currently, many rains do not have such a large amount of water, but many roads in the inner city are still flooded, even in the summer. Meanwhile, the city has 3 sides facing the sea and is surrounded by a dense river system.

Bridge and road across Co Co River — It is necessary to dredge and clear the Co Co River to improve flood discharge capacity to the estuary. Photo: XUAN SON

To prevent flooding from becoming a regular occurrence, the general urban planning also needs to be reviewed and recalculated to see where the “bottlenecks” and faulty joints of a chain of interconnected systems are and how to resolve them. The rapid pace of urbanization, concentrated in the inner city, also has its downsides. Typically, rainwater no longer seeps naturally into the open ground, but stagnates on the surface of the concrete road and cannot drain in time, rising up, turning the “road into a river”.

Therefore, the urban space of Da Nang city (new) needs to be developed to spread out to the suburbs, not to put pressure on the already dense construction density in the inner city. Dredging shallow rivers to improve natural flood drainage capacity needs to be urgently carried out, such as Co Co river, Truong Giang river. Water security to serve the essential needs of life, daily activities and production must also be considered and thoroughly resolved, focusing on the planning stage of clean water plants located in locations with abundant raw water sources flowing downstream.

Having worked in localities along the Vu Gia and Thu Bon rivers, Mr. Nguyen Cong Thanh, Vice Chairman of the People's Council of Da Nang City, shared that the consequences of natural disasters on people's lives, production and lives are extremely large. Natural disasters destroy the results of long-term efforts, hinder socio-economic development; at the same time, they cost a lot of effort, money and time to overcome. Therefore, planning strategies to respond to extreme weather based on science and closely linked to reality is necessary and urgent.

Source: https://baodanang.vn/ung-pho-bien-doi-khi-hau-thien-tai-can-khoa-hoc-lau-dai-3301293.html