Residents evacuate in a hurry as homes collapse in northern Vietnam

By Ngoc Thanh, Vo Hai July 31, 2018 | 05:07 am PT

Several dozen houses have collapsed and are in danger of collapsing into the Da River in Hoa Binh Province.

As of Tuesday morning, around 35 houses along the Da River are on the high-risk list of being pulled down due to the rising riverside erosion.

As of Tuesday morning, around 35 houses along the Da River were at high risk of collapsing because of land erosion, rendering residents homeless. Many households were scrambling to escape with their belongings to safer places.

For fear of continued house collapse, local authorities prompted the mass evacuation of families in high risk areas of erosion last night after five houses were half-swallowed by the river. Hundreds of residents in the ward are in a hurry to go back home on Tuesday morning to pick up their belongings, including clothes, household items and valuable things and move to a new temporary shelter.

Local authorities ordered a mass evacuation of families in high risk areas after five houses were half-swallowed by the river in Dong Tien Ward, two hours west of Hanoi, on Monday. Hundreds of residents in the ward hurried back home on Tuesday morning to pick up their valuables and other belongings to move to a new temporary shelter.

Nguyen Thai Sinh is trying to save his home tools in his collapsed house with a pile of rubble.Since midnight, his house and 35 other families have been ordered an urgent evacuation to safety. Until this morning, they came back home to transport furnishings to safe areas.

Nguyen Thai Sinh trying to salvage his belongings from his house that has partially collapsed into rubble. His family is one of 36 families who have been ordered to evacuate urgently.

Some residents use bamboo ladder to climb down their old house which was sank two meters deep.

Some residents had to use bamboo ladders to climb down into their houses that had sunk by up to two meters.

Some people dismantle the remaining glasses of a house on Cu Chinh Lan Street. Residents in the eroded area are racing against time for clearing away everything as many houses have been alerted to be pulled down.

Some people carry glass panels out of a house on Cu Chinh Lan Street.

My family has lived here for more than 40 years. There has been no previous signs of cracks as the ground of the house is away 40 meters from the river bank, said Tran Thi Hon, a local resident.After many neighboring houses were collapsed last night, a part of her houses foundation were eroded. All her family members came to a neghbors house to sleep and returned home to pick up household items this morning.

“My family has lived here for more than 40 years. There has been no previous signs of cracks as the foundation of the house is 40 meters away from the river bank,” said Tran Thi Hon, a local resident. After many neighboring houses collapsed on Monday night, a part of her house’s foundation also tilted. All her family members moved to a neighbor's house to sleep and returned home to pick up household items on Tuesday morning.