1/3 of Hoi An City’s areas (Quang Nam) is facing the risk of being submerged out by 2020 due to climate change. Although residents and local authorities have used all means to prevent, the erosion speed on Cua Dai beach is calculated by minute!
Beautiful beaches being washed away
Hoi An City (Quang Nam) has a long coastline of about 7 kilometers; however, since 2009, coastal erosion has washed away many beautiful beaches, protection forests and encroached into the coastal residential area. Shoreline was turned up into deep hallows by wave; the public beaches were swallowed by the sea; people’s land and gardens were swept off ; hundreds of coconut trees was lodged within 5 days ... These scenes are currently taking place at Cua Dai Beach. The famous resorts such as Hoi An Beach Resort, Victoria Hoi An Beach Resort are partially collapsed by the wave. Au Co coastal road in this area used to be over 200 meters far from the sea, but now it is only about 40 meters far from the sea.
Currently, authorities place the prohibited signboards; even spread a net to keep people away from the beach. Hundred specialized sacks of sand are used for fighting the fierce waves. Witnessing the above scene, Mr. Tim - a British tourist uttered: "Nature is really harsh, I went to Hoi An because of not only ancient town but also the beach. But the local authorities should have prompt action to remedy what is happening to Hoi An. Save the beach, do not let it be too late ".
Indeed, not only at Cua Dai but also in Tam Hai island commune, Nui Thanh district, in some areas, seawater erosion is 50 meters deep over the last 5 years. The results of hydrological studies over the previous years, the annual speed of sea level rise in Hoi An city is by approximately 0.5 cm/ year. Under climate change scenarios of Quang Nam province by 2020, the most flooding area is Hoi An city, over 27% of the area will have been flooded. It is estimated that by 2020, there will be nearly 25,000 people (nearly 30% of the population of Hoi An city) becoming landless and homeless due to sea level rise.
Struggling to resist
Facing the sea erosion, over the years, Hoi An city is still struggling to resist. To minimize damages to the buildings, People’s Committee of the city has called on people and businesses to mobilize forces and means for implementation of emergency measures such as placing pillars and using sandbags for wave prevention. In order to ensure the safety of residents and tourists, the local hotel staffs and self-defense forces have established belt and appointed guides for tourists.
However, according to Mr. Nguyen Van Dung, Deputy Chairman of People’s Committee of Hoi An City, the phenomenon of sea erosion at Cua Dai beach is happening too fast and extraordinarily although the People’s Committee of Hoi An City has made plans to reinforce landslide at Cua Dai in rainy season with an investment of 10 billion VND. At the same time, Quang Nam province and Hoi An city also invested nearly 20 billion VND to hire units from Ho Chi Minh City to place iron stakes along the coast. However, erosion so far occurs too fast on a large scale.
Most recently, on December 24th, a scientific conference to propose scientific solutions to prevent erosion at Cua Dai attracted the participation of many scientists from universities and research institutes in the country and Tohuku University, Japan. At the conference, Chairman of People’s Committee of Hoi An City, Mr. Le Van Giang said that, the resorts in Hoi An are implementing different solutions to prevent erosion. However, if they are not careful in the process, erosion will become more serious. Therefore, Hoi An needs the cooperation between domestic and foreign scientists in research to find an overall solution which is reasonable and feasible to save Hoi An.
The coastal protection in Hoi An also needs the financial support, because according to Mr. Giang, in 2010, Quang Nam province already approved the project of embankments against sea erosion along the coast of Hoi An with a length of 7.6 kilometers and a total investment of nearly 300 billion VND. However, due to the shortage of capital, by 2012, only 714.2 meters of the embankment was put into action at a cost of more than 50 billion VND.