The roads in the disaster area are inconvenient and the living materials are tight.
Cctv newsThe Sangpian-Sangnannei hydropower station in Azopo province, southern Laos, broke its dam on the 23rd, and the pouring flood flooded six villages in Azopo province, leaving 131 people missing. According to the local disaster relief department quoted by Laos media, the dam break has caused 26 deaths. At the same time, many bridges and some roads leading to the disaster area were also destroyed by the flood, which brought great difficulties to the search and rescue and delivery of relief materials. After the initial road recovery, CCTV reporters came to the area with the worst disaster.
The worst-hit areas this time are six villages under the jurisdiction of Sanansai County, Azov Province. These six villages have basically been flooded, and more than 6,600 people have been affected. At present, most of the roads leading to the outside world in these villages are still flooded, and a large amount of soil has been washed onto the roads, which makes the roads covered with thick mud, making it very difficult for search and rescue teams and vehicles carrying materials to travel.
At the same time, the resettlement of more than 6,000 victims is also a very difficult problem. At present, more than 3,000 victims have been resettled in Sanansai County, which has a population of just over 2,000 at ordinary times. The arrival of a large number of victims has made all kinds of living materials here very tense.
Ben Hong, the county magistrate of Sanansai County.Although all parties have begun to transport a lot of materials here, we need more help because there are too many victims here.
After learning about the shortage of living materials in the disaster area, many Chinese-funded enterprises that are carrying out local project construction immediately organized a large number of daily necessities to be transported to the disaster area, which initially eased the shortage of materials.
Chen Yuquan, General Manager of Nangong Hydropower Station Project in Laos of Three Gorges GroupAt present, domestic water, tents and quilts are urgently needed living materials. We delivered the first batch of materials in the early morning of the 24th, and the second batch of materials on the 26th. We still have a lot of materials later, which are being sent here from Vientiane.
Search and rescue forces in the disaster area tried their best to search for trapped people.
After the dam-break incident, the Lao government declared the affected area a national emergency disaster area, and all government departments and a large number of people devoted themselves to disaster relief. The search and rescue forces such as Lao soldiers in the disaster area are stepping up their search for survivors.
In recent days, wading into flooded villages to search and rescue survivors is a major task for rescuers, and the Lao soldiers who are currently involved in disaster relief have undertaken most of the search and rescue tasks. In a flooded village not far from Sanansai County, several Lao soldiers are helping a girl look around for her family.
The affected villager TipuqiaoI’m looking for my brother and younger brother. They went back to the old house from the resettlement site this morning to get things, but they haven’t come back by noon. I’m in a panic and worried that I won’t find them.
At present, most of the affected villages are still submerged by muddy water and mud. There are all kinds of hidden dangers under the water and mud. Soldiers who participate in search and rescue often encounter danger, and bad weather also increases the difficulty of search and rescue.
CCTV reporter Wang YuezhouIt’s the rainy season in Laos, and there is often rain in the disaster area and the upper reaches of the disaster area, which makes the water level rise again and brings greater difficulties to disaster relief.
Faced with these difficulties, the Lao military can only increase the number of search and rescue personnel to ensure that the trapped survivors are transported to safe areas as soon as possible.
Xinsu, head of Laos military search and rescue teamWe have invested 104 soldiers in this area to carry out search and rescue. These soldiers are scattered in various areas. At present, the main search and rescue targets are survivors who are hidden.
A number of Chinese rescue teams joined the disaster relief operation.
After learning of the dam-break disaster in Laos, many Chinese rescue teams immediately set out to prepare for reinforcements and set out at the first time. CCTV reporters saw the first two Chinese rescue teams in the disaster area — — "Peace Train" medical team from China People’s Liberation Army and "Ram" rescue team from non-governmental public welfare organization.
On the morning of 26th, two rescue teams from China arrived at the resettlement site in Sanansai County, which is the closest to the disaster area. Among them, the "Ram" rescue team, a non-governmental public welfare organization from Zhejiang, learned about the disaster through fellow villagers in Laos before leaving, and carried a lot of targeted professional rescue equipment.
Wang Bin, captain of the "Ram" rescue teamFor underwater search and rescue, we brought an underwater drone and a telescope to have a look.
However, after going deep into the severely affected villages, the rescue team found that the water was so turbid that the underwater drone could not be put into use at all. So the team boarded the small boat and began to carry out search and rescue one by one, and soon found many survivors trapped by the flood, including nine-year-old children and elderly people in their fifties, and most of them had not eaten for two or three days. Some survivors recalled the scene of the flood and were full of fear.
The rescued villager BenmiAt the sight of that water, I was desperate and felt that I couldn’t live. The water kept rising and everything at home was washed away. My son and grandson started to look for boats in the surrounding villages in the morning, but by the time I was rescued, they had not come back.
CCTV reporter Wang YuezhouThis is the village closest to the county seat. Now the water level here has dropped by two meters compared with the highest time. All the roads here have become very muddy, which has brought great difficulties to the search and rescue and the delivery of relief materials. Now the rescue team members are sending the villagers here to the resettlement sites in the county seat, and at the same time, they are carrying out search and rescue in places with deeper water level.
At the same time as the search and rescue, the rescue team also brought a lot of living materials to replenish the supplies to the rescued villagers and the Lao soldiers who were in the first line of search and rescue. In addition, they pay special attention to observing the possible hidden dangers in the disaster area and inform the Lao government of these situations.
Wang Bin, captain of the "Ram" rescue teamThere are some dead bodies of cows and pigs on the road, which may lead to secondary disasters in a few days because of the hot weather.