Villagers dig the ground in a remote valley of Lai Chau Province in Vietnam's northern highlands to look for four people still buried in mud after landslides struck their village on Sunday afternoon. |
Nam Ha 1 Village, which used to be home to four families, is now 30 meters underground. |
“After 10 days of raining, the three mountain peaks surrounding the valley suddenly fell down in the blink of an eye,” says Lo Van Sanh, 42, as he is looking for his wife and daughter. |
Mud and soil dye Sanh’s hands red after days of searching. |
A broken pot, a knife, a torch and a mosquito net are all that’s left of Nam Ha 1. |
Sing Thi Tom performs a local ritual in hope to find her niece. |
A woman sits down for a rest after spending hours looking for a family member. |
Other relatives of the missing people stand in the rain, waiting for information of their beloved. The landslide swept away five people and one body was found on Wednesday morning. |
What’s left of a farm. Lai Chau is worst hit by floods and landslides in Vietnam’s northern highlands in the last days of June, which killed at least 23 people and 10 are still missing. Lai Chau alone has reported 16 dead and is still struggling with torrential rains, which have cut off roads and isolated certain areas. The disaster's damage has been estimated at VND458.7 billion ($20 million). |