Fleeing the flood without time to bring books

Mrs. Vi Thi Xuyen's house, in village 3, Quang Kim commune (Bat Xat, Lao Cai), is located right behind Quang Kim Primary School. In front and behind are streams. When the flood came, Mrs. Xuyen's house was one of the first houses to be "visited" by the flood.

On September 9, the water reached the roof. The family only had time to bring the necessary belongings but not the children's books.

"The refrigerator was floating, the air conditioner was full of mud, the bed and the children's desk were as rotten as bran" - Mrs. Xuyen said.

Ms. Xuyen has two grandchildren studying at Quang Kim Primary School. Their parents are also teachers but teach in A Mu Sung commune, nearly a hundred kilometers away from home. After the flood, their parents had to take a few days off to stay home to clean up mud and rearrange the house.

Looking at the pile of mud-soaked, swollen books, Mrs. Xuyen could only sigh. "Luckily, the teachers were able to get textbooks for the children, otherwise we would have had to let them study for free," said Mrs. Xuyen.

Teacher Nguyen Thanh Hoa, principal of Quang Kim Primary School, said that 70 students in the school lost all their books. In addition, the families of 300 other students suffered property damage.

After the flood, there are more poor students.

On September 9 and 10, an unprecedented flood submerged most of the central area of ​​Quang Kim commune. Quang Kim Primary School was submerged above the head.

On the night of September 8, Ms. Hoa hurriedly called the teachers to come to the school to escape the flood. The army, police and people came to help. They only had time to carry lesson plans, documents and teaching aids to the second floor when the flood came. Many expensive equipment in the warehouse were submerged and damaged by the flood.

"At that time, everyone was worried about the flood but still missed it. The water rose so quickly that many teachers and parents were running from the flood at school but their homes were flooded," Ms. Hoa shared.

Mr. Giang A Ngan, in Lang Pan 1 village, Quang Kim commune, had more than 1 hectare of rice that was ready to be harvested submerged by flood. Mr. Ngan's family only had a few fields, but he borrowed more fields from other families in the village to grow rice. The rice crop was lost due to the flood, and Mr. Ngan did not know what to do to earn more money to take care of his family.

"Luckily for us, the children's books were not flooded, but the whole family's economy has been severely damaged. We depended on the rice crop for half a year, so much effort was put into plowing, fertilizing... but we were left empty-handed" - Mr. Ngan sighed.