Upgrade of essential dykes across the country

242 essential dykes in need of upgrading and repair

With a total of 9,469km of dykes, river dykes: 6,725km, estuary dikes: 1,181km, and sea dykes: 1,292km. The North and North Central regions have 2,741km of dykes classified from grade III to particular grade, with 1,061km of dike protection embankments and 1,576 sluices across the dike. In addition, the Mekong Delta area has a vast system of dams and embankments with a length of over 31,000km.

The dyke system stretches along the river, formed mainly by hand-filling earth over many generations. Hence, the body and foundation of the dyke still have many hidden dangers of large movements of currents and waves during high floods.

Due to frequent impacts of natural factors, as well as human activities, the dyke system in many places is degraded, quickly creating incidents that cause unsafety to dyke, and break dyke, especially when there are an accident, prolonged large floods, or when there are intense storms combined with high tides.

The results of the assessment of the current state of dyke works show that the dyke system from grade III to particular grade still has over 296km of the dike, lacking the design elevation (mainly in the lower reaches of the Red River, Thai Binh River, and River systems). Code); 428km dike section is small; over 174km of dykes, efflorescence, and smuggling often occur when there is flood; 352 old, damaged sewers; 241km of the damaged and degraded embankment and 242 essential dykes need special attention during flood and storm season.

Natural disasters, storms, and floods are increasingly unpredictable, significantly affecting the economy - society, and people's lives. Since then, the requirements for ensuring the safety of the people and the community have increased. When the reservoirs responsible for flood control the upstream have used up the flood prevention capacity for the downstream, the possibility of large floods or floods exceeding the design frequency on the river system is very high, threatening dike safety.

Actively respond to extreme weather

The Central Steering Committee for Natural Disaster Prevention and Control (Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development) has just held a conference with the participation of more than 500 delegates, including representatives of leaders of units under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, along with chairpersons of district-level People's Committees and district-level People's Committees leaders of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, the Economic Department of 156 districts with dikes.

The conference was organized to enhance the initiative and responsibility in performing the task of managing, protecting, and handling violations of the law on dykes and flood prevention for the chairs of the district People's Committee and the district-level advisor units (Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, Department of Economics) in 21 provinces and cities with dikes from grade III to the special level.

At the conference, Mr. Tran Quang Hoai said that natural disasters in our country happened abnormally in the first six months of 2022.

"According to the forecast of the Central Hydro-meteorological Center, the rainfall from July to September this year will increase by about 30% compared to every year, causing flood pressure and affecting dyke safety. Last June, Hoa Binh hydropower reservoir had to open two flood discharge gates. These are signs that the flood situation in 2022 will be very complicated and unpredictable", Mr. Hoai emphasized.

According to the Central Steering Committee for Natural Disaster Prevention and Control, our country's dyke system, which has been built sustainably over many generations, is a work that plays an essential role in preventing floods, fighting storms, and contributing to the protection of lives, assets, and sustainable economic and social development.

Applying science and technology in dyke management and protection is an essential requirement and is being focused on development. Specifically, the water level management software helps to regularly update the water level of stations on the river system with dikes in real-time, warning according to alarm level and water level trend the next time.

In addition, cameras to monitor dikes and floods in rivers have now been installed in some key areas. Image information is regularly and continuously updated about the Central Steering Committee for Natural Disaster Prevention and Control and the Dike and Irrigation Sub-Department. 

Currently, the Central Steering Committee for Natural Disaster Prevention and Control has used some new materials, such as large volumes of sandbags. The mobile anti-spill dike in incident handling and dyke protection has had good results through testing and is invested in Dike and Irrigation Management Sub-Departments.

In addition, some places have applied fly cameras to monitor dikes, riverbanks, shoreline developments, and natural disaster situations.