Authorities in the Cuu Long (Mekong)
Delta provinces are taking several measures to deal with the growing problem of
land erosion in a region crisscrossed by thousands of rivers and canals.

Can Tho City’s
Department of Agriculture and Rural Development said landmarks are being planted
at vulnerable sites to warn residents and a plan is being prepared to evacuate
residents from erosion prone areas.

By 2015, the city
will resettle 40 per cent of the families that live on river and canal banks in
new urban zones, it added.

A report by the
General Department of Environment under the Ministry of Natural Resources and
Environment shows that Dong Thap Province has at least 100 river and canal
sections where the threat of collapse is high.

The report puts the
number of erosion-prone sites in An Giang and Hau Giang provinces at 56 and 55
respectively. These provinces have said they also planned to evacuate people and
shore up river and canal banks with concrete.

In Chau Thanh
District, a land erosion hotspot in Tien Giang Province, local authorities have
developed three new residential areas to resettle families. But local officials
said they did not have the budget to build dykes.

The problem of land
erosion has gained greater urgency with recent collapses claiming human lives
and destroying property.

In Can Tho, the
collapse of a market section on May 9 killed two vendors and injured five
people. In An Giang, a landslide on National Highway 91 last year blocked
traffic for nearly one week.

Experts have said
that the main reasons for increasing land erosion are the low volume of water in
rivers and canals, over-exploitation of sand, and weak dyke systems.

VietNamNet/Viet
Nam News