LANDSLIDE IN VIETNAM KILLS AT LEAST

20 MILITARY PERSONNEL

Search-and-rescue efforts were

underway after a landslide in the
central province of Quang Tri,
resulting in what may be the
country’s greatest military loss
in peacetime.

A landslide in Vietnam on Sunday killed at least 20 military personnel and left

two missing, the local news media reported, following weeks of torrential rains
and flooding that have devastated parts of the country and killed dozens of
people.

The mudslide began in the early hours of Sunday morning and leveled the
soldiers’ barracks in Huong Phung Commune, in the central coastal province of
Quang Tri.

“There have been four to five landslides, exploding like bombs, and it feels like
the whole mountain is about to collapse,” Ha Ngoc Duong, the vice chairman
of the commune, told VnExpress, an online state-run news outlet.

Mr. Duong added that the mudslides were likely to continue, hindering search-
and-rescue efforts.

The deaths could be the country’s largest military loss in peacetime, officials said,
and came just days after another landslide killed 13 people, most of whom were
also members of the military, in neighboring Thua Thien Hue.
“We’ve never lost so many military members, including two generals and high-
ranking officials, in natural disasters,” the government said in a statement.

Pham Tan An, a survivor of the Sunday mudslide, told VnExpress he felt
“completely powerless” after seeing his colleagues buried beneath the rubble.

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“For us who were lucky enough to survive, it’s really heartbreaking to know our
22 teammates didn’t make it. Now, when closing my eyes, all I can think of is us
enjoying a meal together,” he told the news outlet.

Rapid development and deforestation have exacerbated the damage caused by

seasonal flooding. Floods in 2018 killed more than 20 people and destroyed
hundreds of homes.

“Vietnam has the perfect storm,” Adam Switzer, a sedimentologist at the Earth
Observatory of Singapore, said of Vietnam’s susceptibility to flooding and
landslides. “It has seas, rainfall, it has very heavily vegetated steep slopes, and it
has seismic activity.”
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Extreme downpours have pummeled Vietnam since early October, causing some
of the worst flooding in years. More severe rain is expected this week.

In Quang Tri Province alone, close to 50 people are dead or missing. More than
12,000 residents have been evacuated because of the floods, which have
inundated nearly 45,000 homes, the state news media reported.

Seventy schools have also been submerged beneath the floodwaters in areas along
the Thach Han River in Quang Tri, according to the government newspaper VGP
News.
So far, the floods have cost Vietnam around $520,000, Vo Van Hung, the
chairman of the Quang Tri People’s Committee, told the paper.

“We need to understand why this happened,” said Mr. Switzer, the
sedimentologist, who warned that effects of climate change could cause similarly
devastating floods in the future, “so that when the next landslide happens, we are
better prepared.”