Petrovietnam shares difficulties and losses with people in flood-affected areas

From July 22-24, due to the influence of the tropical convergence zone connecting with the low pressure area weakened from storm No. 2, Son La province had heavy to very heavy rain with total rainfall ranging from 40-200 mm, some places had very heavy rain such as Son La city with 229.4 mm, Chieng Ngam commune, Thuan Chau district with 206.4 mm, Chieng Noi commune, Mai Son district with 205.3 mm, Nam Ty commune, Song Ma district with 199.6 mm. Prolonged heavy rain caused floods causing much damage, greatly affecting people's lives.

Comrade Do Chi Thanh - Deputy General Director of Petrovietnam presented support to help Son La province overcome the consequences of natural disasters.

According to Vice President of the Vietnam Fatherland Front Committee of Son La Province Giang Thi Huong, since the night of July 23, Son La Province has suffered the heaviest rain in the past 30 years. As of August 1, floods have isolated many residential areas; killed 11 people, left missing and injured many others; damaged 2,531 houses, of which 113 were completely damaged, 231 had to be urgently relocated; thousands of hectares of rice and crops were flooded; thousands of livestock and poultry died and were swept away by floods; many key traffic routes, schools, medical stations, irrigation works, electricity and water systems, communications... were severely damaged. The total damage is estimated at over 500 billion VND.

People in Tong Co commune, Thuan Chau district, Son La province were severely affected by floods. Photo: Son La Newspaper.

The most severely affected people in Son La province during the recent floods were the people of Tong Co commune, Thuan Chau district. Chairman of Tong Co commune People's Committee Lo Minh Hue said that although they had proactively responded to natural disasters, the floods came so quickly that people were unable to protect their property. In Phe village alone, the floodwaters rose up to 10 meters high, causing nearly 40 houses to be completely submerged in water, rice and crops of the people were submerged in water, 160 households in Phe village were severely affected.

Confiding to reporters, Ms. Luong Thi Hong, Phe village, Tong Co commune sadly recounted: “The flood came so quickly, no one had time to react. At that time, the whole village was rushing to help each other to escape the disaster, no one dared to think about their belongings. My family has 4 people, 2 husband and wife and 2 children. When the flood happened, my husband was not at home, I was the only one taking care of the two children, so I was very scared. Now, the house is completely flooded, almost all household items are damaged, trees and crops were washed away by the flood, now I don't know how difficult life will be."

People in Linh village, Muong Pon commune together straighten the flow of water so that it does not flood into their houses.

In the recent floods, not only Son La province but also Dien Bien province was severely affected. From July 23 to July 31, flash floods and landslides in the province killed 6 people, left 3 missing and injured 7 people. Floods also buried nearly 200 hectares of rice, corn and pine forests, many of which could not be repaired. In addition, 12 irrigation works, 8 domestic water works, 2 medical stations were damaged, and 7 schools were affected by floods. The total damage is estimated at about 383.5 billion VND.

The road system of Muong Pon commune was seriously damaged.

As the locality most severely affected by floods, Chairman of the People's Committee of Dien Bien District (Dien Bien Province) Nguyen Thai Binh said that at around 2:00 a.m. on July 25, flash floods and landslides in the district killed 4 people, 3 people are missing and 7 people were injured. Along with that, 325 houses were damaged, of which 21 houses collapsed and were swept away, 21 houses suffered very heavy damage from 50-70%. "The flash floods occurred at night, causing heavy damage to people in 4 villages: Tin Toc, Linh, Muong Pon 1, Muong Pon 2. The flash floods also took the lives of 4 people, making our pain even more excruciating," the Chairman of the People's Committee of Dien Bien District shared.

The working delegation went on a field trip to Linh village, Muong Pon commune, Dien Bien district.

Recalling the terrifying moment, Mr. Lo Van Tan, Muong Pon commune, Dien Bien district, said: “While everyone was sleeping, the flood came roaring, trees, houses, and cows were all swept away. Everyone ran away in panic. I was only able to save my two children, but all my property was lost. My house was swept away, now I have to stay at each house for a few days, and the clothes I am wearing are borrowed from neighbors. After experiencing the terrifying flash flood, I realized that my family and I are still lucky, the flash flood not only destroyed our property and assets but also took away our relatives and neighbors, those are irreplaceable losses,” Mr. Tan said, choking with emotion.

Flood relief work is taking place very urgently.

Comrade Do Chi Thanh - Deputy General Director of Petrovietnam visited, expressed condolences and encouraged the families of those who lost their loved ones due to flash floods.

Not as lucky as Mr. Tan, the terrible flash flood took the lives of many people in Muong Pon commune, causing pain to many families. One of the people who suffered the greatest pain was Ms. Ca Thi Oanh, the flash flood not only took away her house but also her husband and 6-month-old daughter who are still missing. Losing her house, she had to return to her mother's house to live and set up a temporary altar for her husband and children.

Also suffering the pain of losing his home and loved ones, Mr. Ca Van Luyen had to move to a cultural house and set up a temporary altar to commemorate his wife and unfortunate son...

Immediately after receiving news of the heavy loss of life and property caused by floods in Son La and Dien Bien provinces, Petrovietnam quickly established a working group to go to the scene to share difficulties and support people to soon stabilize their lives.

Although the weather is still rainy, there may be many difficulties and even dangers in the process of moving to the people in the flooded areas, but understanding the difficulties of the people who are heavily affected by the floods and with the sentiment of the oil and gas people, the Petrovietnam working group led by Mr. Do Chi Thanh - Deputy General Director of Petrovietnam departed from Hanoi early in the morning of August 1 to support the people.

Petrovietnam Deputy General Director Do Chi Thanh and Permanent Vice President of Vietnam Oil and Gas Trade Union Nguyen Manh Kha presented gifts to support people in Tong Co commune affected by floods.

When the delegation arrived in Son La province, Comrade Giang Thi Huong - Vice Chairman of the Vietnam Fatherland Front Committee of Son La province directly met and provided the latest information on the impact of floods in the province. Sharing the losses of the people, Comrade Do Chi Thanh, on behalf of Petrovietnam and the delegation, donated 1.5 billion VND to support Son La province to overcome the consequences of floods. Through the Vietnam Fatherland Front Committee of Son La province, Comrade Do Chi Thanh sent his condolences and encouragement to the people, those who lost their homes and property, and sent his deepest condolences to the families of those who lost their lives due to floods.

Comrade Do Chi Thanh also hopes that the Son La Provincial Fatherland Front Committee will quickly transfer Petrovietnam's support to the victims, helping them to stabilize their lives soon. "Petrovietnam is always ready to accompany and support Son La province in overcoming the consequences of floods. Schools and medical stations were severely damaged and need to be repaired and rebuilt. Petrovietnam has discussed specifically with Son La province to have a support plan," Comrade Do Chi Thanh affirmed.

To share with the people affected by the floods in Son La, the working group continued to move to Tong Co commune, Thuan Chau district - the place most severely affected by the floods. Here, the working group directly met, visited, gave gifts, and encouraged the people in the flooded areas.

Touched by the concern of the working group, Ms. Luong Thi Doan thanked Petrovietnam for their sentiments. “My family’s house was flooded, all our property was damaged, and all our fields and trees were gone. In the midst of such difficult times, receiving your care and attention and gifts from you guys makes me very touched,” Ms. Doan expressed.

Chairman of the People's Committee of Tong Co Commune, Lo Minh Hue, said that the floods had completely submerged many families and damaged many houses. The lives of the people after the natural disaster were very difficult and deprived. "It was not until July 27 that we were able to provide clean water and on July 29 that we were able to restore electricity to the people. The work of overcoming the consequences of the floods also encountered many difficulties due to inconvenient transportation. We would like to sincerely thank and appreciate the sentiments and noble gestures of Petrovietnam and the working group who did not mind the difficulties and hardships to share and support the people of the commune," Chairman of the People's Committee of Tong Co Commune expressed.

Comrade Do Chi Thanh and Comrade Nguyen Manh Kha presented flood relief support to Dien Bien province.

Leaving Son La, the delegation moved to Dien Bien district (Dien Bien province) - a district heavily affected by flash floods. Here, comrade Do Chi Thanh, on behalf of Petrovietnam, donated 1.5 billion VND to support people to overcome the consequences of floods.

Comrades in the Petrovietnam delegation gave gifts and encouraged the people of Muong Pon commune.

Although knowing that the roads are far away, many places are blocked by landslides and the weather is still raining non-stop, the risk of further landslides is very high, but with the desire to directly meet and share with the people in the flooded area, the Petrovietnam working group also went to Muong Pon commune - the place that was heavily affected by the flash flood on July 25. Comrade Do Chi Thanh and his comrades in the working group directly supported 21 families. Of which, 4 families unfortunately had people dead or missing and the family of a member of the Security and Order Protection Team of Muong Pon 1 village whose house was swept away with an amount of 10 million VND/family; each family whose house was swept away received 5 million VND; each family whose house collapsed received 4 million VND along with gifts from Petrovietnam.

Sympathizing with the pain of the deceased's relatives, comrade Do Chi Thanh and the delegation came to burn incense to express sympathy to the victims lost in the flash flood and to encourage and share the pain with the victims' relatives.

Along with production and business activities, social security work is always considered important by PetroVietnam. This is an important activity in the long-term, sustainable development strategy and is associated with the four core values ​​of oil and gas culture "Aspiration - Intelligence - Professionalism - Compassion", which are the responsibility, sentiment, and culture of oil and gas people in their behavior towards the community and society.

Quang Phu