Schools in Nghe An recover from historic floods

GD&TĐ - The historic flood caused by storm and storm circulation Wipha in Western Nghe An caused serious damage, many schools were completely submerged, and facilities were buried in mud.

Currently, flood recovery work is urgent. The spirit of mutual love is also promoted towards schools in the flooded areas of Nghe An in the most difficult days.

Urgent letter from the principal of the flood-hit area

Immediately after escaping isolation and having phone and internet signal, Mr. Tran Sy Ha - Principal of My Ly 2 Primary Ethnic Minority School (My Ly Commune, Nghe An) wrote a long, urgent letter calling for support to overcome the consequences of the flood on his personal Facebook.

In his appeal letter, he said: “The floodwaters rose so quickly on the night of July 22 that they completely submerged the rows of houses, swept away and buried most of the facilities, teaching equipment, and daily necessities of teachers and students. Although we tried to raise the important equipment, the water was too strong and completely washed it away. The spacious school, where teachers and students spent their days clinging to the village to spread knowledge, is now only rubble and mud.”

Before that, when the flood started to recede, despite the rain and landslides, Mr. Tran Sy Ha still rode his motorbike to the school to check the situation. During the rainy and flooded days, the border commune of My Ly was isolated and lost communication, so Mr. Ha only knew that the school and many houses were affected, but did not know the specific situation.

The 75km journey from his home in Huu Kiem commune to the school has never been so difficult. Only about 30km can be traveled by motorbike, the rest of the way Mr. Ha had to abandon his motorbike and walk through landslides, then ask the locals to help him with each section. When he started to enter the center of My Ly commune, the landslides became more serious, Mr. Ha had to climb the forest and wade through flooded sections to get to school.

“When I arrived, the scene that struck my eyes was mud and dirt up to the second floor of the school, the rows of houses and classrooms near the stream were destroyed by floodwaters, and all property was swept away. All that was left was rubble, my heart was filled with sorrow, I could not hold back my tears,” the Principal of My Ly 2 Primary School for Ethnic Minorities recalled.

Army forces help Chi Khe Kindergarten (Tra Lan, Nghe An) clean up and overcome the consequences of the flood. Photo: NTCC

After the flood, the school suffered complete damage, including: 12 televisions, 5 refrigerators, 22 desktop computers, 3 laptops for teaching, all desks and chairs of 7 classrooms; the kitchen with full cooking utensils and 1.7 tons of rice reserved for boarding students at the beginning of the new school year were also submerged in water. In addition, books, personal belongings of the students and blankets, beds, wardrobes, and belongings of boarding teachers were also swept away by the flood.

Mr. Tran Sy Ha added that before the flood, the school had assigned local teachers to the school to move all the papers, books and boarding equipment of nearly 90 students (who had just been sponsored) to the upper floors for them to use during the school year. However, because the water rose too quickly, reaching the second floor (about 10-11 meters higher than the previous peak flood level), all the important assets of the school, students and teachers were submerged in water and mud. Many teachers burst into tears when they witnessed the scene of their belongings submerged by flood water.

My Ly 2 Primary School for Ethnic Minorities has more than 200 ethnic minority students with difficult economic conditions. The school has 24 staff and teachers, of whom 11 live far away and are staying at the school's official residence. After the flood, not only the meeting room, office, and teachers' residence, but also the entire boarding house were swept away by the flood.

According to Mr. Tran Sy Ha, the school was built thanks to the attention of the Party, the State, charitable organizations and the social community with the hope that this would be a bright spot in the border area of My Ly commune.

“In these extremely difficult circumstances, the school earnestly hopes for sharing from the community and kind-hearted people near and far. In the immediate future, the school needs to be rebuilt, with desks, chairs, cabinets, books, teaching equipment, blankets, kitchens, etc. to be able to welcome the children back to class in the upcoming new school year,” Mr. Ha said.

After the historic flood passed, thousands of cubic meters of mud and soil were left up to the second floor of My Ly 2 Primary School for Ethnic Minorities. Photo: NTCC

Where the flood recedes, clean up immediately

After the Principal's call, the first aid has come to My Ly 2 Primary School for Ethnic Minorities. The benefactors have donated 1 ton of rice, many bookcases, tables, chairs, and mattresses for boarding students. In addition, the most practical items for cleaning and handling mud in the school such as boots, generators, and high-pressure pumps are also coming to the school in the border commune.

Luu Kien Secondary School for Ethnic Minorities (Luu Kien Commune, Nghe An) was completely rebuilt and put into use 3 years ago. The spacious school with full classrooms, functional rooms and boarding houses for students is located halfway up the mountain.

However, the recent historic flood quickly rose in stages, submerging the schoolyard, inundating classrooms one meter deep, damaging many equipment and school supplies. In addition, all the rice reserves for boarding students entering the new school year were also submerged.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Nhung - Principal of the school shared: "Never before have I witnessed flood waters rising so high. Water from the Kien stream in front, water from the mountain pouring down the stream behind, flowing rapidly, then merging into one rising so high that people were unable to react in time. My house and many of my colleagues' houses in the school were flooded up to the roof, we only had time to run to higher ground to take shelter."

Equipment, computers, teaching equipment, and books of many schools in Nghe An were damaged due to flooding. Photo: NTCC

Principal of the Ethnic Minority Secondary School Luu Kien added that after the flood, traffic was cut off, roads were eroded, and the families of the school's staff and teachers and the neighboring primary school also suffered heavy damage.

In recent days, local forces, militia, soldiers, and police have come to support people and schools in overcoming flood damage. Thanks to that, mud and dirt have been pushed out of the school. "In the coming days, when the road is clear, the school will mobilize more teachers from the lowlands to come to the school to clean up the whole school," said Ms. Nguyen Thi Nhung.

Meanwhile, Chi Khe Kindergarten (Tra Lan Commune, Nghe An) located in the downstream area of Ca River was also flooded, leaving behind meters of mud. Teaching equipment and children's toys were partly washed away and partly damaged.

As soon as the floodwaters gradually receded, soldiers from Regiment 335, Division 324, Military Region 4, along with Nghe An Police, Con Cuong Commune Police, and people and colleagues from schools that suffered little damage from the flood came to support Chi Khe Kindergarten to overcome the consequences. Many benefactors also sponsored excavators, trucks, food, and drinking water for the school. Up to now, the school is still cleaning, drying tables, chairs, and other usable items.

Nghe An Department of Education and Training launched a campaign to support overcoming the consequences of flooding caused by storm Wipha. Photo: Ho Lai

Towards schools in flooded areas of Nghe An

According to initial statistics from the Nghe An Education Department, the storm and its circulation caused severe damage to 52 schools in the area, mainly in the western mountainous region. Of these, 18 schools were completely flooded, including the main campus and some remote campuses, 22 schools with remote campuses were flooded, and 12 schools suffered landslides, with rocks and soil flowing into the school, roofs blown off, walls collapsed, etc.

In addition, more than 90 houses of officials and teachers were submerged in water, and their properties were swept away. In recent days, in addition to supporting the cleanup and recovery efforts after the Wipha storm, many organizations, units and philanthropists have also turned to the flood-hit schools in Nghe An with the most practical help.

Tam Thai Primary School (Tam Thai Commune, Nghe An) is located near National Highway 7. Floodwaters rose suddenly at midnight, damaging all the property on the first floor, including many televisions and computers that could not be moved. The school library was completely flooded, and more than 3,000 books, newspapers, and children's stories for students were soaked in floodwaters and damaged beyond repair. The organization "Intellectual House and Charitable Bookcase" said it would donate new computers and books to students of Tam Thai Primary School in time for the new school year.

Nghe An Department of Education and Training has launched a campaign to support overcoming the consequences of flooding caused by storm Wipha. Mr. Thai Van Thanh - Director of Nghe An Department of Education and Training said that the flood occurred at a time when there was only about 1 month left until the new school year began.

At this time, many schools and school sites were severely damaged, many houses of officials, teachers and students in the highlands were destroyed by floods, and all their properties were swept away by floodwaters. Therefore, to quickly overcome the damage, the sector is in dire need of the attention and sharing of colleagues and people nationwide, in order to help people, teachers and students in the flooded areas return to normal life.

In the long term, the sector will continue to call for resources to support schools damaged by floods, supplement facilities, teaching equipment, textbooks, and notebooks for students to ensure teaching and learning needs. Right at the launching ceremony, the Department of Education and Training and a number of high schools donated nearly 400 million VND to people in the flooded areas of the West. In the immediate future, the Department will provide urgent support to teachers who lost their homes and schools that suffered heavy damage.

On July 28, the Education and Times Newspaper Office in the North Central region also launched a donation campaign to share with people affected by floods in Nghe An. The campaign lasted from July 28 to August 5. After the end of the donation campaign, the North Central Office (Education and Times Newspaper) will synthesize, publicize, and transparently organize direct transfer to schools and people in the flooded areas of Nghe An.

Source: https://giaoducthoidai.vn/truong-hoc-o-nghe-an-guong-day-sau-tran-lu-lich-su-post741910.html