The most serious disaster in 100 years is raging in the West

Westerners are experiencing the most severe drought and saline intrusion ever.

The rainy season ends early, the lowest flow in the Mekong River for 90 years is the cause of saline intrusion in more than a dozen provinces in the Mekong Delta.Particularly, Dong Thap and Can Tho have not been attacked by salt yet, but have been hit by drought.It is forecasted that severe natural disasters last long, the risk of 500,000 hectares of summer-autumn rice cannot be sown, seriously affecting the lives of one million households (equivalent to 5 million people).

"With the current developments, we are experiencing a historic disaster," said Agriculture Minister Cao Duc Phat.

Pham Thi Tiet (80 years old, in Phu Thanh commune, Tan Phu Dong district, Tien Giang province) said: "6 families of winter-spring rice lost their families. Until now, people here have never witnessed saltwater scene. Soaring and sunshine is like this. "
Currently, Tien Giang has more than 1,000 hectares of winter-spring rice of people lost.Localities in the province installed 674 points for 2-level flow pumps and 3 levels for watering nearly 22,000 ha of rice.

In Miet Thu, Kien Giang province, many farmers breed the winter-spring crop but only harvest rice.Mr. Danh Ca (42 years old, An Bien district) sighed, said: "This year's saline water is overwhelmingly strong, our people turn their hands away in time. Looking at the rice paddies that are slowly dying, the gut breaks their liver."

So far, Kien Giang has more than 55,000 ha of damaged rice.To protect the remaining rice area, the authorities urgently made 89 temporary dams to prevent salinity and keep sweet;simultaneously drilling underground water with a capacity of 20,000 m3 per day to serve people.

Similarly, Soc Trang has 12,800 ha of rice in the districts of Tran De, Long Phu, Ke Sach, Chau Thanh and My Xuyen, but has lost more than 70%, causing losses of over VND 30 billion to farmers.In the picture, Mr. Thach Thanh (42 years old) in the heavily saline intrusion area in My Xuyen district, Soc Trang province, is godly in the field when it is dry and cracked."I feel helpless against the burning sun. It is not possible to cultivate in the fields, but for a few weeks many people here have gone to the East to hire a living, waiting for the rain to come back," he said.

The internal field ditch in the quadrangle of Long Xuyen quadrangle cracked because of the severe drought in the past few months.Before that, the last drops of water were pumped to the fields by the people to save rice.

Many intra-field channels in Ca Mau peninsula are bottomless.Currently, people try to drip every last drop of water to save rice.

The provinces of Tien Giang, Ben Tre, Long An, Ca Mau, Soc Trang and Kien Giang have announced natural disasters.Party Committee Secretary Ben Tre Vo Thanh Hao said only 4 out of 164 communes and wards have not been attacked by salt;offices, schools, hospitals, industrial parks are all suffering from serious freshwater.People have to buy domestic water for 40,000 - 70,000 VND per m3.

Drought caused the land of sandy coastal crops in the West almost lost white because of lack of fresh water for irrigation.Mr. Nguyen Thanh Lam - Deputy Head of Agriculture Department of Ba Tri District (Ben Tre) worried: "The lost white rice is suffering for the people very much. Now vegetables and fruit trees are also drying up every day. Pretty people have land. production is damaged, so there is no income, and the poor do not hire, do not know what to live. "

Meanwhile, in Go Cong peninsula (Tien Giang), the remaining freshwater ponds and ponds are very valuable, being fully utilized by the people to pump into the rice fields.

The incomplete irrigation system in the Mekong Delta is overloading this historic disaster.The whole region needs funding of 32,500 billion VND to implement urgent projects to respond to climate change.Of which, VND 1,060 billion is needed for localities to implement the most urgent works to prevent salinity and keep sweet in service of people's life and production.

In Vam Co, Tien and Hau rivers, along the West coast;saltwater intrusion deep into the mainland 45-93km;In many places, the highest salinity reaches 20.3-31.5 g / l.Minister of Agriculture Cao Duc Phat said: "This has never happened in the history of monitoring saline intrusion".