In-depth
Landslide sweeps away road and houses in Can Tho
  • | VietNamNet | May 27, 2015 05:23 PM
A landslide occurred early today in Can Tho City's Cai Rang District, sweeping away three houses and more than 50m of a road into the River Can Tho.


The Sai Gon Giai Phong (Liberated Sai Gon) newspaper reported another 100m-long road section had also cracked, threatening several houses of local residents in Yen Thuong area in Le Binh Ward.

The landslide covered about 20m of the river bank.

Several local people told the newspaper that they heard cracking sounds before three roofs collapsed and the surface of a new road broke up and fell into the river within 10 minutes.

"I was inside my house, when I heard the cry for help in the neighbourhood. When I rushed out to see what was going on, I saw two wooden houses owned by Mr Tuan and Mrs Hoang being swept away," 55-year-old Nguyen Van Quoc said.

"I and some neighbours tried to use ropes to tug the houses. Luckily, we saved the houses of Tuan and Hoang whereas [Luong Bich] Thuy's house fell into the water," Quoc said.

Chairman of the Le Binh Ward People's Committee Nguyen Van Tam said, "As soon as we heard of the incident, we mobilised more than 100 people of the civil and armed forces and the police to quickly shift people and assets of households directly affected by the landslide and another 10 vulnerable families in the vicinity to safer locations."

"We also assigned the forces to stay on to quickly respond to any further incidents that may occur. In the short term, families whose houses have been swept away will be given VND5 million (US$230) each," Tam said.

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