Flash flood in Nu village: Rescue forces stop searching, 7 people still missing

After nearly a month of searching, on the afternoon of October 10, the entire rescue force of nearly 200 people officially withdrew from the landslide scene in Lang Nu, Phuc Khanh commune, Bao Yen district, Lao Cai province.

On October 10, Mr. Nong The Manh, Chairman of the People's Committee of Phuc Khanh Commune, Bao Yen District, Lao Cai Province, said that by the end of October 10, all rescue forces and machinery would withdraw from the landslide scene in Lang Nu Village. The decision to stop searching for the remaining missing people had been agreed upon with local residents in a meeting at the end of September.

According to Mr. Nong The Manh, over the past 10 days, forces have continued to search the area, with excavators digging nearly ten meters deep in some areas, but no more cases have been found.

On October 8, the People's Committee of Bao Yen district announced that two more cases had been identified from the results of DNA testing of samples collected since early October. Of these, three samples were collected by authorities from victims drifting on the Chay River and three samples from corpses in Lang Nu.

Thus, up to now, the landslide and flash flood in the early morning of September 10 buried 33 households in Lang Nu, affected 40 families, killed 60 people, and 7 people are still missing.

After the incident, authorities mobilized 650 people, including soldiers from Military Region 2, border guards, dog units, police and local militia to participate in the search and rescue. However, the search was difficult due to the large landslide site, hardened mud and at times interrupted by prolonged heavy rain causing floodwaters to flow in, bringing mud with them.

Lang Nu village has nearly 170 Tay and Dao ethnic people living at the foot of Con Voi mountain for many years. This is a peaceful village with green rice fields along both sides of the stream and has never had a natural disaster.
After the terrible flash flood that occurred on the morning of September 10, the entire Lang Nu village was almost "erased" and flattened by rocks and soil. On the afternoon of September 21, the Lao Cai Provincial People's Committee started construction and reconstruction of the Lang Nu residential area, Phuc Khanh commune, Bao Yen district.

Accordingly, the Lang Nu resettlement area phase I is built on an area of about 10 hectares, arranged about 1,000 m2/household; 40 houses are built with 2 floors (area 8x12m), designed in the style of traditional Tay stilt houses with auxiliary works (kitchen, toilet...).
In addition to the resettlement area, auxiliary works such as cultural houses, schools, infrastructure works (roads, electricity, water, etc.) are all being constructed to ensure stable and long-term living for the people. The construction will be undertaken by the 12th Army Corps.

According to research by Associate Professor Dr. Nguyen Chau Lan (University of Transport) and his colleagues, the landslide that buried Lang Nu village occurred in the Con Voi mountain formation. There, the rock was strongly pressed down at a slope of 40 - 50 degrees.

The landslide-generating area on the top of Con Voi Mountain has an altitude of 774m, the bottom affected area has an altitude of 160-200m.

Based on the rainfall data on September 9 (57mm/h), the landslide could have occurred on September 9. However, its flow was narrowed about 2km from the point of origin, creating a temporary dam.

Early in the morning of September 10, the accumulated rainfall here (temporary dam location) reached 633mm (very high, equal to 1/4 of the average annual rainfall in Lao Cai). Due to the rising water pressure, the temporary dam broke, mud and rock floods spilled out and spread downwards due to the flat terrain below (Lang Nu village) at 5am on September 10.

According to calculations, the top of Con Voi mountain has a weathered crust up to 40m thick, so the landslide created a large landslide area with a volume of up to 1.6 million m3.

After the landslide disaster in Lang Nu village, scientists recommended that local people and authorities proactively check for cracks on slopes and blockages along tributaries and streams...

Touching the photo of the restoration of the family of the boy in Nu village, the message line choked up Thiên Di13:49:46 04/10/2024After the flash flood on September 10 swept away the entire village of Lang Nu (Phuc Khanh commune, Bao Yen district, Lao Cai province), until now, local authorities and functional forces are still searching for the remaining victims.