Schools submerged in mud and rubble
Ten days after the historic flood, My Ly 2 Primary Boarding School (My Ly Commune, Nghe An ) is still submerged under mud and soil piled up nearly 3 meters high. Many items and equipment in the school were swept away by the flood, lying in piles. "The amount of mud and sand is estimated to be more than 15,000 cubic meters, and we don't know when it will be cleared. We really need support," said Mr. Tran Sy Ha - Principal of the school.
The main school is located in Xang Tren village, right next to the Nam Non river. The fierce flood on July 22 swept through the entire school area, causing the school grounds to be submerged in mud and soil. The administrative buildings and teachers’ dormitories were swept away and severely damaged. Dozens of computers, televisions, projectors, etc. used for teaching were submerged in water.
When the flood came, Mr. Ha was on summer vacation at home in Huu Kiem commune. Hearing that the school was flooded, it took him nearly 2 days to reach the school. “We have reached the center of My Ly commune, but it will take another 3 hours to reach the school because the roads are also damaged. Therefore, it is very difficult for support teams to access and repair the damage. Now, 6 classrooms in the 2-storey building have damaged doors and are washed away by the flood and need to be repaired and replaced. The 5 rows of level 4 houses all had their corrugated iron roofs and some main doors and windows washed away by the flood. They now need to re-roof and replace some doors…”, said Mr. Ha.
This is the school that suffered the most damage in the recent historic flood. During this flood, up to 40 schools in the communes of Western Nghe An were affected, causing an estimated loss of about 40 billion VND. "Not only did we lose money due to damaged facilities and machinery, but many schools were also covered with mud and soil, requiring a lot of effort to fix them and prepare for the new school year," said Mr. Nguyen Trong Hoan - Chief of Office of the Department of Education and Training.
Similarly in My Ly commune, the primary school and kindergarten of Bac Ly commune in Buoc village are still submerged in rubble. “Floodwater swept across the roof of the school, sweeping away many assets. The school is less than 10 km from the commune center, but because the road was damaged, we had to walk for more than 4 hours to reach it. Therefore, up to now, 10 days have passed and we still cannot fix it,” said Mr. Pham Viet Phuc - Chairman of the People's Committee of My Ly commune.
Teacher holding hoe and shovel
Immediately after the flood, Mr. Thai Van Thanh - Director of the Department of Education and Training launched the "schools helping schools" movement, aiming to help overcome the damage caused by the flood. Up to now, more than 10 schools in the lowlands, with hundreds of teachers volunteering to go to the highlands to help their colleagues.
“Witnessing the damage caused by the flood firsthand, we were all choked up. Many scenes were heartbreaking: houses completely collapsed or were swept away by the flood, valuable furniture, assets, and tables and chairs were also swept away by the flood, leaving only bare foundations. In particular, mud and soil were several meters thick, making daily life almost paralyzed. There were houses submerged in mud up to the altar, making it very difficult to clean up,” said teacher Ta Khac Dinh - a teacher at Dien Chau 2 High School.
At the call of the department director, on July 29, a group of 16 teachers from Dien Chau 2 High School went to Tuong Duong and Tam Quang communes to help with flood relief. Before leaving, Mr. Dinh also called for sponsorship and used his own money to buy 100 sets of clothes to give away. The school also called for donations and brought along many relief items.
“After the school called for help, many teachers volunteered to register, but we only selected those who were healthy enough. After all, they were teachers and had only been used to holding a pen for a long time. Of the 16 people, there were 14 male teachers and 2 female teachers. When leaving, the teachers also brought all their tools from home such as hoes and shovels. We also prepared enough food so that we could eat and drink by ourselves so as not to bother the local people there,” said Mr. Cao Thanh Tuan - Principal of Dien Chau 2 High School.
Not only helping the schools and houses of colleagues that were flooded in Tuong Duong commune, right after getting off the bus, the group of teachers went directly to the village, participated in shoveling soil, raking mud, cleaning houses, helping people stabilize their accommodation, and at the same time, giving gifts, including food, clothes, drinking water, essential items and some cash support. “It was really tiring, some houses were almost completely flooded, garbage was everywhere. Mud and soil were piled up nearly 2 meters high. There were 16 of us but it took more than a half day to clean up. Although we were tired, everyone was happy because we contributed a little bit of effort,” added Mr. Ta Khac Dinh.
In Con Cuong commune, after the flood, Chi Khe Kindergarten suffered an estimated loss of nearly 1 billion VND. All electronic appliances and cooking equipment in the kitchen were damaged or swept away. Due to its location near the Lam River, many construction works such as toilets were filled with mud and could no longer be used. On the morning of July 29, more than 30 teachers from Hung Thinh Kindergarten (Hung Nguyen commune) traveled more than 100 km to Chi Khe Kindergarten to overcome the consequences of the storm and flood. Ms. Nguyen Lan Anh - Principal of Hung Thinh Kindergarten said that kindergartens such as Hung Thinh, Hung Tay, Nguyen Hue, Hung My (in Hung Nguyen commune) have proactively contacted each other, discussed solutions to join hands to support schools damaged by floods.
"Coming here, seeing the hardships of teachers in the highlands, we truly sympathize. Although there are still many difficulties, we believe that, with the determination and cooperation of the local government and "schools helping schools", the schools will soon stabilize and be ready for the new school year," said Ms. Nguyen Lan Anh.
In addition to joining hands to clean up schools and classrooms to overcome floods, teachers from Hung Nguyen commune also donated part of their salary to support damaged schools in Con Cuong commune. Immediately after the provincial Department of Education launched a flood relief campaign, many schools in Nghe An donated and organized many trips to mountainous communes to support teachers, students and people in flooded areas.
In addition to helping, in recent days, from contributions from officials and teachers, many schools such as Que Phong High School, Nguyen Duy Trinh High School, Nghi Loc 2 High School, Provincial Boarding Ethnic High School... have prepared rice, peanuts, fish sauce, dried fish, clothes, essential items... to bring to support people and teachers and students in the communes of Western Nghe An.
Source: https://baonghean.vn/truong-hoc-o-nghe-an-ho-tro-nhau-vuot-thien-tai-10303753.html
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