In the past few days, a 300-meter section along Cua Dien Beach in Hoi An Old Town has been eroded by up to 30 meters wide. So far, four houses in the Thinh My Residential Area have been damaged.
Local residents said the northeast monsoon, which annually arrives in March, has never been as fierce as it is this year, resulting in rough seas and strong waves.
Erosion dismantles the beach house of a local man named Nguyen Phung.
"At night early this month, waves struck the foundation of my house, causing it to collapse," he said. "The waves also washed away many of our belongings."
Nguyen Son, another local resident, stands on what used to be his house.
Though he had reinforced his house with rocks and sand bags, he failed save it.
A mason builds a temporary kitchen for the family of Nguyen Thi Loan after erosion ate away her kitchen.
Stretching 6.5 kilometers, Cua Dai Beach has suffered severe erosion for years, losing between 10 and 20 meters of land each year since 2014.
To save the beach, Quang Nam Province deployed 1,000 iron stakes nine meters in length to mitigate the impact of waves; it also built a dyke with 3,000 sandbags, but to no avail. Since June 2020, the province has implemented a new project to build an underwater dyke offshore, in addition to filling up eroded sections along the beach with pumped sand.
So far, a beach section that stretches 300 meters long and 100 meters wide has been restored, and Quang Nam will start work on another 500-meter-long section within this year.
The section, where the Thu Bon River meets Cua Dai Beach in Duy Xuyen District is also suffering from erosion.
The northeast monsoon that arrived in late February has eroded a 3-5 meter wide section of the beach, prompting many families to evacuate.
What’s left of a house on Cua Dai Beach.
In the past five years, seawater has intruded upon the beach, erasing an area that is more than 50 meters wide.
Erosion damage along an embankment built in 2006 along Hoa Trung Beach in Tam Ky Town.
Since the beginning of the year and up until recently, erosion has shattered a section more than 200 meters long along the beach.
Erosion also attacks Cua Lo Beach in Nui Thanh District.
The eroded area lies 70 meters away from a residential area.
A closer look at what erosion has done to Cua Lo Beach.
Along the coast, hundreds of willow trees have been swept away while many temporary houses have collapsed.
Cua Dai Beach is eroded.
