from the flood on earthen dykes. “We still face starvation. The rice and other material aid that was given to us only lasted for a few days, and then we go for stretches without food. There were times when we were so desperate we sought water hyacinths to eat at the risk of drowning”, commented Madame Nguyen Thi Nhan, the vice-president of the district women’s union. Incidentally, she is also a flood victim who temporarily resides on a dyke with her neighbors. In the village, 1,300 hectares (ha) are devoted to rice cultivation, but only 100 hectares were fully harvested before the arrival of flood waters. Moreover, all 11 bridges collapsed and miles of roads are still submerged.
Each household we visited agreed that their most immediate relief needs were for rice, water purification tablets, a small boat, and fishing gear. Tran Thi Cuc pointed to her wrecked boat and commented, “We cannot rely on handouts. None of the assistance provided is sustainable. This is why we need boats and fishing gear—so that we may find our own food and sustain ourselves for months.” Distinct from other natural disasters, such as a hurricane, a flood can last for months. For example, in the upstream province of Dong Thap, some flood refugees have camped on dykes for approximately four months.
While surveying the area, I noticed a mother scooping flood water to fill a small bucket. When I asked how she would use that water, she replied, “This water is used for drinking and cooking.” Because big water jars have been lost in the floods, families cannot store rain water for household consumption. The smaller, plastic containers they have can only hold two gallons of water—not enough rain water to slake the thirst of a family of 5 beyond one afternoon. Thus, the only other option is to use flood water. It is obvious that the water they used for drinking was the same water that contained human waste. Boiling water is not an option, given the limited amount of wood for burning.
On the way to our boat, we encountered a crying woman. Her four year old daughter had fallen in the water the previous day and landed on a stake which pierced her chest. She was rushed to the nearest clinic on a flimsy boat and barely survived a whole day’s travel. Her mother had to return to the camp the following morning
to look after her other small children. Unfortunately, this little girl’s plight reflects that of hundreds of children who have suffered since the flood waters rose. Children comprise the bulk of the flood casualties. Ms. Cuc pointed out that even the deceased must suffer from the floods because there is nowhere to bury them. Children have stayed out of school because all the schools in Tan Lap are flooded. At the time of our visit, they had been out of school for 2 ½ months. It was heartbreaking to see children hold out their bare white hands to visitors passing through in a desperate gesture for help. Undoubtedly, they will continue to do this until the flood waters recede in mid-December.
From the project beneficiaries, we learned that all of them lost their rice, livestock, and aquaculture. Because they have very little land, most of them normally sell their labor in neighboring villages. Now jobless for approximately three months, they face great hardship rebuilding their lives as they are completely without resources. The long term impact is enormous. Because the next rice planting opportunity will be at the end of December and harvesting will start at the beginning of April, these villagers will need rations for the next five months. Two months of rations will be needed until flood waters recede, and three will be required during the post-flood phase.
We reached My Tho district in Tien Giang province in the late afternoon and scenes of plastic tents camped on the side of the road were reminiscent of Long An. Mr. Nguyen Hoang Hanh, deputy director of Tien Giang’s Department of Science, Technology, and Environment (DOSTE), planned to take us on a boat into Tan Phuoc village, which is the site of an OA-funded project that supports reforestation with melaleuca trees. However, Mr. Hanh warned us that heavy rains had started in Tan Phuoc village and that travelling in such rough conditions was strongly inadvisable. We opted for the safer alternative—to hold discussions in Mr. Hanh’s office about the flood’s impact on Tien Giang. As a downstream province, Tien Giang’s main concern is the polluted water that comes from upstream provinces, coupled with local decomposed plant and animal residues and mismanaged daily living waste in stagnant water. The low absorptive capacity of the poor soil in the region, as well as the salinity intrusion from the nearby sea, adds to the floodwater’s contamination. In many villages of Tien Giang, the soil is acidic all year long, and the only species that can withstand this condition is the melaleuca tree. Because of the province’s vulnerability to both upstream wastes and the high tides of the sea, the problem deemed most urgent was providing safe drinking water for flood-affected communities. Water-transmitted diseases, such as cholera, typhoid fever, and diarrhea have been commonly reported in this province.
To date, total damages in this province are estimated at 746 billion dong. Rice production loss is not as serious as the loss of fruit trees, which are the mainstay of the local economy. An estimated 25,000 ha of fruit trees have been flooded. As we left Tien Giang province for Dong Thap the following morning, every tree we passed held the color of death. Orchards of mango, guava, longan,
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