Thousands of children cut off from school by north Vietnam floods

An aerial picture shows flood waters surrounding and submerging homes in Ben Voi village on the outskirts of Hanoi on July 28, 2024. Thousands of children in northern Vietnam will struggle to return to school after flash floods and landslides damaged homes, destroyed crops and cut off several communities in the region, a charity warned August 20. FILE PHOTO/Agence France-Presse

HANOI — Thousands of children in northern Vietnam will struggle to return to school after flash floods and landslides damaged homes, destroyed crops and cut off several communities in the region, a charity warned Tuesday.

The country’s north suffered through an extremely wet summer, with mountainous areas in the northwest particularly badly hit by heavy downpours and flash floods since early July.

Nearly 29,000 houses have been damaged and 90,000 hectares of crops destroyed, Vietnam’s General Statistic Office said late last month.

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In Son La province, about 1.3 million people have been affected, according to Save the Children, who said floods had left the countryside strewn with broken bridges and heavily damaged roads.

Eleven people have died in the area, and around 2,670 houses and 29 school buildings were damaged, according to Vietnam’s disaster officials.

Save the Children said 4,500 children would face “safety challenges” as they try to return to school at the beginning of September.

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“The recovery will take many months and without immediate intervention, these children could face numerous dangers,” Le Thi Thanh Huong, Country Director of Save the Children Vietnam, said in a statement.

According to the charity, Ha Cong Minh, the principal of a school in Son La province, said “the road to school is very rough with landslides and broken bridges making it hard to travel. Children must cross streams to get to school.”

Floods caused around $85 million in damages in the first seven months of the year, double the figure of last year, according to Vietnam’s General Statistic Office.

Ninety-one people were killed or reported missing due to adverse weather during that period, it said.

Between June and November, Vietnam is often struck by downpours, triggering flooding and landslides.

Scientists have warned that extreme weather events globally are becoming more intense and frequent due to climate change.