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At least two people have been killed and nine others injured by falling trees in Ho Chi Minh City this year, and transport officials are blaming the rapid rate of construction for uprooting the trees.
At a conference on Tuesday, the city’s transport department listed 216 incidents of trees being uprooted and 579 times that branches had fallen into the streets this year, local media reported.
A 60-year-old woman succumbed to her injuries after a tree branch fell on her when she was jogging in District 1 on August 26. Two days later, a tree toppled and crushed a 25-year-old man in District 5. He suffered severe brain injuries and died later.
Tran Quang Nam, deputy director of the department, said that the problem has become more common since 2013, making people nervous every time they travel in heavy rain or stormy weather.
There are more than 122,650 trees lining the city's streets, including around 6,000 trees of between 15 and 20 years old that are vulnerable to heavy rain and strong winds.
Nguyen Khac Dung, chief manager of urban trees at the transport department, said that trees are planted in harmony with the city’s natural and infrastructure conditions.
But the harmony has been threatened by rapid urban development, with houses suffocating the trees and underground projects taking up their soil and water, Dung said.
He said the the city should issue heavy penalties to ensure construction does not put trees at risk.
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