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Rescuers were searching for hundreds of missing people in Laos after the collapse of a hydroelectric dam on Wednesday, but only 19 bodies have been recovered for the time being, and rescue operations promise to be difficult In this isolated area
"Nineteen bodies have so far been recovered, seventeen wounded people have been transported to the hospital," said Chana Miencharoen, the Thai consul in Laos. "We can not yet estimate the number of disappeared," he added, adding that water was reaching the roofs of houses.
The authorities of Laos, a very closed communist state, where sources of information are rare, have not provided at this stage any official report on the scale of the disaster.
The official Lao agency KPL reported Tuesday "several deaths and hundreds of missing".
More than 6,000 people are homeless
Images filmed by local media show people on the roofs waiting for help, others fleeing the area with the few items they could save then the floods, which flooded seven villages, affect a vast area.
Nearly 750 people found shelter in a warehouse in a neighboring province several dozen kilometers from the disaster. According to the Thai consul, more than 6,000 people are homeless.
"It happened quickly, we did not have much time to prepare ourselves," said Joo Hinla, a resident of one of the villages most affected, Ban Hin Lath, still without news of four members of his family.
The total rupture of the dam released 500 million tons of water
Following torrential rains, "the upper part of the dam" was taken Sunday at 21 hours, almost 24 hours before the The company SK Engineering and Construction, which is involved in carrying out the project, collapsed the structure.
On Sunday night, "we immediately alerted the authorities and started evacuating the villagers" who were closest The total breaking of the dam has released 500 million tons of water, according to data from another dam operator, Korea Western Power, flooding seven villages.
Workers were rushed to the spot, but attempts to repair were hampered by heavy rains.
On Friday, "eleven centimeters of subsidence was detected in the center of the dam", which is located in the province r in Attapeu, in the south of the country, near the Cambodian and Vietnamese borders, said Korea Western Power.
Inadequate warning systems
This disaster "reveals the inadequacy of warning systems" and "raises important questions about the safety of dams in Laos, including their relevance to weather conditions", in this country struck this year by monsoon rains, said Maureen Harris, specialist in Laotian dams for NGO International Rivers
Aerial images posted by local ABC Laos show a totally flooded area covering dwellings and jungle over a wide area.
Families, muddy water up knees, evacuate the place with the few objects they were able to save, according to images broadcast by local media, all controlled by the state. Other residents are waiting for help on the roof of their house, near a partially submerged Buddhist temple.
The disaster area is surrounded by dense forest, complicating operations.
The dam was to start at supply electricity in 2019
The collapsed structure, "Saddle Dam D", is part of a network of several dams. The $ 1-billion hydroelectric power project involves Laotian, Thai and South Korean companies, a joint venture of Xe-Pian Xe-Namnoy Power Company's (PNPC).
The Dam had to start supplying electricity in 2019, of which 90% was to be exported to neighboring Thailand, the rest to be distributed on the local network.
Enclosed in the heart of the Indochinese peninsula, Laos, a small rural and mountainous, aims to become "the battery of Southeast Asia."
According to the website of the International Hydropower Association (IHA), more than 50 hydropower projects are under development in the country, the great displeasure of environmental organizations that highlight their impact on the Mekong, its flora and fauna, the rural populations, often displaced, and the local economies that depend on it.
The country exports the majority of this energy especially in China, Vietnam or Thailand, eager for energy.
Relatively frequent accidents in Asia
The collapse of dams or dikes, similar to that which has just occurred in Laos, are relatively frequent. in Asia, and in particular affected China's powerful neighbor.
In Hubei Province, China, in August 1998, hundreds of people, including 150 soldiers, were killed after the collapse over more than 700 meters. Dyke, located near the Yangtze River.
More than 20,000 people were killed in the country in August 1975 after the failure of dams holding the Banqiao and Shimantan reservoirs in central China's Henan province It was revealed that 24 years later.
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