Six provinces in Vietnam’s Mekong Delta region have been scrambling to battle the severe erosion of the sprawling river and coastal network, with some areas now requiring urgent measures, state media said on Tuesday.
The provinces, Long An, An Giang, Dong Thap, Ben Tre, Soc Trang and Ca Mau, have either declared emergencies or cordoned off long stretches of land on the Mekong’s edge because of the erosion, the official Vietnam News Agency (VNA) reported.
In Ca Mau Province, more than 25 kilometers (15.5 miles) of rivers need urgent measures, VNA said of one of the affected areas, 250 kilometers (155 miles) southwest of Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam’s main business hub.
The eroded areas are especially dangerous, directly affecting residential areas, administrative areas, education and healthcare facilities, the report said.
The 4,350 km (2,700-mile) river, known as the Lancang in its upper reaches, flows from China’s Tibetan Plateau along the borders of Myanmar, Laos and Thailand, through Cambodia and finally Vietnam, where it forms the delta known in Vietnam as the Nine Dragons.
2019 Reuters