Logging Blamed in Vietnam's Second Wave of Floods
12/9/99
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Title: Logging Blamed in Vietnam's Second Wave of Floods
Source: Environment News Service, http://www.ens.lycos.com/
Status: Copyright 1999, contact source for permission to reprint
Date: December 9, 1999
HANOI, Vietnam, December 9, 1999 (ENS) - Environmentalists are blaming
widespread illegal logging as a factor in disastrous flooding that has
hit the central coast of Vietnam for the second time in two months.
Flooding rainfall that began December 1 is blamed for 115 deaths and
injuries to 120 others. More than 5,300 homes have been swept away and
nearly 400,000 more than been inundated and damaged, United Nations
officials report.
The latest floods struck just a month after the central coastal
provinces of Vietnam were inundated by the worst floods the country
has experienced this century in which 592 people lost their lives.
These new floods occurred just as rehabilitation measures were being
undertaken in order to help stabilize the lives of the people in the
central provinces.
The December rains caused flash floods in mountainous areas. Notably
the Tra Khuc River in Quang Ngai reached levels unsurpassed since
1964, and river levels in Quang Ngai and Khanh Hoa were higher than
any recorded for these provinces over the last 40 years.
Flood waters began to recede slightly today. Preliminary assessments
show about one million people are short of food, a crisis that will
continue for months because the second wave of floods washed away
newly planted rice paddies. Rice and vegetable seeds are in very short
supply, as the seeds provided over the last two weeks to counter
November flood damages have in many cases been lost in the latest
disaster.
Aid agencies have sent tons of instant noodles and 4,000 lifeboats to
Quang Ngai and Quang Nam provinces. Oxfam is supporting the Vietnamese
Red Cross in their response to the floods.
The Provincial People's Committee of Quang Nam mobilized 1,200
soldiers equipped for relief activities and sent these forces to
protect Phu Ninh Reservoir over the night of December 3.
A spokesman for the World Wildlife Fund says the government and
provincial authorities are aware of the need to protect the forests
and have been active in programs to plant more trees, but at the same
time illegal logging has been stripping forests from a steep mountain
range not far inland of the flooded area.
Less than 10 percent of Vietnam is covered by primary forest, but
these remaining natural forest and grassland areas still hold viable
populations of many rare species. The World Wildlife Fund project
works to expand the information base on mammals and other important
species and ecosystems and to strengthen Vietnam's system of protected
areas and ecological reserves.