The VND 38 billion (USD 1.44 million) residential area in Dam Rong 4 Commune covers 15 hectares. The plan was to provide safe housing for residents, with land plots already allocated to 73 households.
However, since June, both upper and lower slopes in the area have been repeatedly eroded by rainwater, triggering a series of landslides that have endangered local homes.
Residents said multiple sections of the slope, some tens of metres high, have slipped, with specific areas collapsing over stretches of up to 100 metres.
“I was given land three years ago and built my house here to settle. But recently, the slope behind my home has kept eroding,” said Sa Ka Rieng, a resident.
Cracks nearly half a metre deep and several dozen metres long have appeared across the project site. Concrete drainage systems have fractured and sunk, while stone-lined channels have been heavily damaged.
As soil and rock continue to slide from the upper slopes, the ground behind many homes has eroded.
Several families have seen their toilets, yards and animal pens destroyed by the landslides. A newly built reinforced-concrete bathroom, costing about VND 50 million (USD 1,900), collapsed shortly after completion due to continued erosion. Large cracks have since appeared behind the house.
Some residents have taken matters into their own hands. Ha Trung, for instance, covered the slope behind his house with plastic sheets to stop rainwater from seeping into the soil and worsening the erosion.
Local authorities have erected warning signs in high-risk zones and have appealed to relevant agencies for about VND 5 billion (USD 190,000) to build retaining walls, drainage systems and slope reinforcements.
