Water scarcity hits central Vietnam due to drought

Drought is not uncommon in Central Vietnam. 

When I grew up, the Central suffered natural disasters every year --  flood one year, drought the next, forest fire every year, storm/hurricane every other years, and saline intrusion every 5, 7, or 10 years (I don't remember the exact frequency).  That's why life in the Central was an endless misery.  That's why Central Vietnamese were notoriously frugal (they still are).  That's why the youth of every generation in the Central left their hometown to move to Saigon, either for work or for university although Viện Đại học Huế (Huế University Institute) offered exactly the same programs as Viện Đại học Saigon (Saigon University Institute). 

The most recent drought throughout the Central and South Central happened in 2015.

A few decades ago, all the disasters were called natural disasters (thiên tai).  They have been around for thousands of years, they all arrived routinely, and people simply put up with them if they couldn't or wouldn't move.  The last drought and this one both aren't natural disasters, according to the government.  They're the result of global climate change. 

"After floods, droughts are classified as natural disasters that occur frequently in Vietnam.  International experts assess that Vietnam is one of the most heavily affected countries of climate change, especially the problem of sea level rising.  Under the impact of climate change, droughts are likely to occur with more severe frequency and severity, and the number of drought days may be longer.   

The manifestation of climate change seriously impacts the economic and social life of Vietnamese." 

(Nguyễn Văn Tuệ, Director of Department of Meteorology, Hydrology and Climate Change, a department in the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment,, spoke during the drought of 2015)

Please, no comment from the peanut gallery on the last sentence of the statement.

BTW, this water scarcity did not catch anyone by surprise. 

On November 29, 2018, at the "Conference to Improve the Effectiveness of Flood Prevention and Control of Reservoirs in the Central and Central Highlands" held in Huế, the Deputy Director of Hydro-meteorological Station in the Central warned all responsible parties that water shortage and drought will happen in the Central and Central Highlands starting the first months of 2019.

This is also not the first time the Central falls into drought in the middle of rainy season.  Last November, all reservoirs in the Central ran out of water, rice fields were arid, vegetation were dried, and water drinking for people was limited.

gobot wrote:

Never expected to see this headline in Vietnam. It is wet season in Saigon. Wet almost every day. Takes some of the shine off Da Nang.

Tuoi Tre News Aug 26 2019

my friend just moved from Chang Mai to Danang, he says he'll take the rain any day. With the smoke for several months a year now in CM, it's getting to be nearly impossible to live there, and they also have a rainy season there as well.
Met many last winter in Danang that were there to escape the smoke of Chang Mai.
Visited CM many times, ( visited) could never u derstand anyone wanting to live in a place where the air quality is hazardous??????????????

Here in Los Angeles, we are in a constant drought. Last couple of years we saw some wet winters but I remember years where we would have only a couple of days of rain for the entire year. I guess the infrastructure is there to supply Southern California, Nevada, Arizona with water from northern states. Hopefully something like that is in the works for Central Vietnam to bring in more expat and to help Vietnamese in that region. I too plan to move to Danang in a few years when I take early retirement.

Live in CM but leave during the smokey season.  Rainy season not so bad.

I left Chang Mai because of the same issue. Can't live in a city that u can't breathe in for months at a time.

Canman63 wrote:

I left Chang Mai because of the same issue. Can't live in a city that u can't breathe in for months at a time.

what was that ?