At least 110 killed in floods, landslides in central Vietnam, Cambodia

Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, Oct 19 (efe-epa).- At least 90 people have been killed and another 34 are missing due to floods and landslides that have ravaged central Vietnam for nearly two weeks, while at least 20 have died in neighboring Cambodia.

The national disaster prevention center of Vietnam said that 14 soldiers died on Sunday and eight others are missing after being buried by a landslide in the central Quang Tri province while engaging in relief efforts during floods in the region.

The mudslide hit a unit of Vietnam’s 4th Military Region, where dozens of rescue workers have been working since Sunday to try to locate the eight missing.

This tragedy comes less than a week after 17 construction workers were buried by another landslide in the province of Thua Tien-Hue on Oct. 12 along with 13 soldiers who were conducting search and rescue operations to locate them. The bodies of only two workers have been recovered.

Most of the victims were swept away by floods that have hit the region since the beginning of the month.

With heights reaching up to 4 meters (13 feet), the floods have also led to the evacuation of more than 120,000 people.

Several provinces in the center and north of the country continue to experience heavy rainfall and the meteorological agency expects the rains to continue in the area at least until Wednesday.

In Cambodia, where heavy rain has been causing flooding in many provinces and the capital since Oct. 1, at least 20 people have lost their lives, with 240,000 affected in 19 provinces, according to the government’s disaster management agency quoted by local media at the weekend.

Central and northern Vietnam typically experience several typhoons and tropical storms every year.

Natural disasters caused 132 deaths in 2019, mostly from flooding and landslides due to heavy rains. EFE-EPA

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