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Monday, 22 May, 2000, 13:35 GMT 14:35 UK
Vietnam: legacy of the floods
![]() The Forbidden City faces flood damage annually
By Simon Ingram in Hue city
On the beaches of central Vietnam, you scarcely notice the traces of what was the worst natural disaster to hit the country in decades.
Six months on, the remaining residents tell visiting aid workers they need help to find new homes. Nguyen Du, a flood survivor, said his son and two nephews were swept out to sea and their bodies were never recovered. "I'd never seen floods like it," said the old man.
With reconstruction work now well under way, the aim of the various aid organisations is to relocate as many settlements as possible to higher ground. "It is important that they are less vulnerable for the next flood," said Francois Audet from the Canadian Centre for International Studies and Co-operation, "because we know that every year they will have floods here. So instead of putting their money every year in rebuilding new houses, they will use this money for new economic activity." Fears for ancient city While people can be moved, relocation is clearly not an option for Hue's historic Forbidden City.
The most recent floods virtually destroyed one building. Local historians fear it is only a matter of time before further damage is done. "We have no means to protect this area," said Phan Thuan of the Hue Monuments Conservation Centre. Resigned to their fate Many local people seem equally resigned when it comes to the tribulation nature brings them each year. Those living and working on boats are resisting calls for them to move onto dry land. And nobody, so far, is prepared to force them. There is one inescapable fact in all this. Water, one way or another, is at the very heart of people livelihoods in this part of Vietnam, with all the risks that that entails. The typhoon season is still some months off. When it comes, another deluge is inevitable. Until then, the residents of this unusually vulnerable region will go about their lives as though such a threat never existed. |
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