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LAOS: Questions Rise With Worst Floods in Decades
By Ounkeo Souksavanh*
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=43828
VIENTIANE, Sep 9 (IPS) - When local people in Laos talk about floods,
they always look back to 1966 -- the year the Mekong River burst its
banks so fast that no one was prepared.
Based upon pictures from the time and stories told by residents who
were there, the capital became a lake in a matter of days.
In August this year, these old pictures and stories came back to haunt
Lao people when the Mekong River inundated Vientiane and other
provinces.
Houses and farmlands were under water, residents were forced to use
boats to evacuate their belongings and livestock. Floodwaters exceeded
dangerous levels throughout much of central Laos.
The highest water level recorded in Vientiane was 13.68 metres on Aug.
14. That is beyond the 12.50-metre point, at which the authorities
officially declare that flooding is dangerous.
At the back of many locals minds as they deal with the current
floods, the worst since 1966, were questions about whether the dams
built in the Mekong river upstream in China since the early nineties
were behind the rising waters.
Kham Sisavanth, a 38-year-old Vientiane resident, said that even
though there was no concrete evidence to support the accusation, many
people believe China was behind the severity of the recent floods.
He raised the example of the medium-scale Nam Ngum dam in central
Laos, the release of water from which in early August was blamed for
flooding in several villages along the Ngum River.
"If a huge discharge is released due to opening the dams upstream,
then countries downstream, including Laos, Thailand, Vietnam and
Cambodia will be seriously flooded," said Kham.
"I disagree with the dam construction upstream as it will affect
peoples downstream, but it is difficult to prohibit China to do so
because China is not member of Mekong River Commission (MRC) and we
dont have the power to bargain with them."
"I am worried we might face even worse floods over the next years," he
added.
"The total storage capacity of the three dams, Manwan, Dachaoshan and
Jinghong, in China is 16,683 million cubic metres," Pienporn Deetes, a
coordinator of the Chiang Mai-based Living River Siam told the Thai-
based English-language daily Bangkok Post on Aug. 17.
"This is enough to regulate water flow in the northern part of the
Mekong River, including a large area in northern Thailand," she
added.
But the Mekong River Commission (MRC), based in this city, says such
speculation is without basis. "The current water levels are entirely
the result of the meteorological and hydrology conditions and were not
caused by the release of water from Chinese dams, as their storage
volume was far too small to affect the flood hydrology of the Mekong,"
it told the Post.
In an Aug. 25 statement, the Commission said: "Preliminary analysis of
the available combined water storage volume behind the three
hydropower dams that are operational or approaching completion on the
Lancang-Mekong River and tributaries in China suggests this to be
small compared to the volumes of natural runoff generated directly by
rainfall".
The combined active storage capacity of the Chinese dams, Manwan,
Dachaoshan and Jinghong, is less than one cubic kilometre, only a
small part of which could be released within the period that the
floodwater accumulated," it added.
"Given that at Chiang Saen the flood peak on Aug. 12 showed an
accumulated flood runoff volume for the month of 8.5 cubic kilometres,
while at Vientiane on Aug. 15 the figure was 23 cu km, any release
from these dams could not have been a s significant factor in this
natural flood event.
It also pointed to similarities with the September 1966 major floods,
which occurred when tropical storm Phyllis poured massive amounts of
rain on Chinas south-western Yunnan province.
Still, environmentalists attribute the flooding in Laos and Thailand
to the blasting of rapids in the section of the Mekong between
northern Laos Bokeo province and Thailands Chiang Rai province to
improve waterway for large-scale navigation along Mekong in 2004.
This has changed the waterway, causing floods and erosion for several
kilometres along the bank in Thonpheung district in the north of
Bokeo. Erosion in some cases has been so bad that some residents have
resettled to other areas.
"Villages in the area blame waterway improvements to allow big ships
to run from China and unload cargo at Chiang Saen port in (Thailands)
Chiang Rai province for the erosion," Khaophone Phonechaleun, a radio
reporter in Bokeo said.
For their part, the Lao authorities, keen to preserve good relations
with China, also pointed to similar factors stressed by MRC.
"Many days of heavy rain is the cause of the flooding," said Souvanny
Phonevilay, Head of Weather Forecasting and Aeronautical Division,
Department of Meteorology and Hydrology.
Souvanny said the rains were partly the result of tropical storm
Kammuri storm that blew over northern Laos in early August.
The storm brought winds from the Gulf of Thailand and heavy rains,
increasing the flow of water into the Mekong, which was already
swollen as the result of heavier than usual rain earlier in the year.
Observers believe a reduction in forest coverage has also contributed
to the severity of the flooding. Based on statistics by Ministry of
Agriculture and Forestry, forest coverage in Laos is now about 40
percent, down from 70 percent in the past.
"The reduction in forest means rainwater is not retained in the soil
and instead runs down into rivers," said Souvanny.
According to Laos National Disaster Management Office, some 150,000
people have been affected by the flooding in seven provinces. Four
people were killed in central province of Vientiane and one was swept
away by water currents in Bokeo.
The government has estimated the cost of damage to roads and bridges
due to the flooding at around 293 billion kip (300 million dollars).
Flooding has also affected 65,000 hectares of agricultural production
area, including 27,000 hectares of paddy field.
Sisavat Homdala, technical officer at the Ministry of Agriculture and
Forestry, told the Lao news agency in late August that Laos would face
rice shortages due to flood damage to rice fields.
(*This story was written for the Imaging Our Mekong Programme
coordinated by IPS Asia-Pacific) |
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