I have prepared an article on another topic for October 2024. However, my mind is now filled with images of sadness and the horrifying destruction suffered by the people in the northern provinces of my country during and after the Typhoon Yagi. Some Asian neighbors such as Laos, Thailand, and China have also suffered from the storm. I have decided to share some feelings and thoughts about my people and country in a context of ruin and mourning but also full of human love. Tribulation is also an opportunity for people to unite and love each other more.
Typhoon Yagi is a historic storm. It was the strongest storm to hit Vietnam in the past 70 years. Its high speed and heavy rains affected areas from the North Central to the North of the country. Many people were severely affected. The storm lasted many hours when reaching the mainland, causing heavy rain and floods for several days, leading to landslides in mountains and hills. There was severe loss of life and grave injury to people, property, and morale. Coffins were needed among emergency relief supplies. This is the first time I have witnessed a storm and flood that has claimed many lives. There are images of people buried by rocks and sands or swept away by floods. Even groups of cattle and pigs were swept away. So many houses, schools, rice fields, dikes, and aquaculture farms were destroyed. The scene of mourning and loss was overwhelming; the lives of thousands of people fell into misery. Healing people physically and mentally and restoring life after the typhoon will take a long time.
Most areas affected by the wind, floods, and landslides are in mountainous regions where poor ethnic people live. Over the past few decades, many mountains and hills in Vietnam have been exploited to get soil and stone for construction. The mountains are cracked due to rock blasting, and the hills are also weakened due to indiscriminate sand mining. Many times hills and mountains collapse, causing deaths. Ironically, protected forests have been destroyed in many areas by the same people responsible for protecting them. Every time storms occur, floodwaters rush from the mountains to the plains. The strong winds of Typhoon Yagi have caused widespread landslides, burying villagers and even rescuers. Vietnam has almost no plan to build long-term and sustainable infrastructure, especially housing for poor ethnic people. The protection of forests and the environment has not received adequate attention from the Vietnamese government and people.
After storms and floods, Vietnam’s beaches are always filled with garbage. This waste comes from rivers, where people often dump household waste. There is an organic link between increasing population, urbanization, land need for housing, conversion of agricultural lands to residential land, unorganized housing construction, and floods. Many Vietnamese people still need to gain common awareness of environmental protection. Even in big cities, many people clean by throwing trash down the drain. This is one of the reasons why many streets in big cities are frequently flooded in the rainy season. Training each person’s awareness and righteous conscience is a big challenge for Vietnam.
Vietnam, China, Cambodia, Thailand, and Laos jointly built hydroelectric dams on the Mekong River. Vietnam is located in the lower Mekong River, so it is affected by these countries’ use of hydroelectric dams, especially China (building six hydroelectric dams on this river). During the dry season, the portion of the Mekong River in Vietnam is prone to dryness because hydropower plants in other countries often conserve upstream water. During the rainy and flood season, these countries, especially China, often release floodwaters to avoid the risk of dam failure. Vietnam is exposed to these floodwaters, with a risk of severe landslides.
In recent years, Vietnam has had many major corruption cases worth billions of dollars involving many high-ranking officials, including ministers and deputy ministers in economics, banking, construction, health care, and education. Some officials, including university deans, use fake degrees. This also shows that the school management system has many flaws. Meanwhile, many talented people who have won international prizes in mathematics, physics, chemistry, information technology, etc., study abroad and choose to stay and work abroad. Vietnam needs so many leaders with vision and heart to build the country. There needs to be a meritocracy, eliminating discrimination of “background and family origin”. Above all, there must be a love of homeland and attachment to the nation by leaders, intellectuals, and all classes of people.
There has to be a conversion of hearts, especially of leaders responsible for national growth. There has to be authentic integral development. Breaking the vicious circle of poverty, population pressure, and environmental degradation is essential—more than growth is needed to break this vicious circle. Just and equitable policies are required. Environmental awareness must be raised through education and community campaigns. The youth must be inspired to become leaders promoting sustainability and leading ecological movements. There should be sustainable management of resources and stewardship of the environment through changes in public policy and individual behavior. There has to be a shift toward the use of renewable energy for a sustainable future.
Father Peter-Hans Kolvenbach, the former General Superior of the Society of Jesus, said, “Consumerism, a lifestyle of affluence and exploitation of the earth and its resources, is intrinsically linked to the social, economic, and political injustice of the world and a wound inflicted on the body of Christ.” For religious people, the vow of poverty may be a call to live, to consume and waste less, and to be less of an ecological burden. It can become a powerful symbol of our concern for nature and influence others who are caught up in a world of consumerism and materialism.