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PAKSONG, Laos – Petchinda Chantamart heard for the first time what looked like a bomb just a few miles away. Then came a curious noise, like a strong wind.
She knew instinctively what that meant: One of the new dams under construction near her village in southern Laos had failed. She began knocking on her neighbors' doors, she said, and urged them to find higher ground
"The water is coming!" Roared Mrs. Chantamart, a small woman with pink cheeks
the water of his village, Xay Done Khong, was 10 meters deep and was rising.
Chantamart, 35, and several of her neighbors have secured her. But others were not so lucky when an auxiliary dam, part of the Xe-Pian Xe-Namnoy hydroelectric project, failed Monday night due to heavy rains, sending over 170 billion feet cubes of water downstream
. Premier Thongloun Sisoulith said Wednesday that 131 people remain missing and more than 3,000 are homeless. Many were saved from roofs and trees after villages and farmland were flooded.
At least 26 people were killed.
"A second step for us will be to recover and identify the deceased, but for now, we hurry to find those who are still alive in the area," said Bounhom Phommasane, Governor of Sanamxay District, in The Vientiane Times
. Chantamart said that hundreds of people from her village had escaped, but that 15 people were still missing, including nine children. She had been unable to reach their homes on Monday because the floodwaters had already climbed too high.
"I am very worried about them, from the bottom of my heart," she said.
others climbed high on Monday, local soldiers and officials moved them to Paksong City, to the west of the dam site, to take refuge in an empty warehouse normally used to store the coffee.
News Agency showed large amounts of water cascading over what appeared to be the diminished structure of the dam, known as the Saddle Dam D.
L & # 39; Lao official agency reported that the dam had collapsed. The main builder of the hydroelectric project, SK Engineering & Construction of South Korea, said it would investigate whether the dam had collapsed or overflowed due to heavy rains.
International Rivers, a defense group that opposes the rapid growth of hydroelectric dams in Laos, said in a statement published online that the Auxiliary Dam has collapsed as a flood of Heavy monsoon rains overflowed Monday night.
The group, which seeks to protect rivers around the world, said the disaster of many dams have not been designed to cope with extreme weather events like Monday's rains.
"Unpredictable and extreme weather events are becoming more frequent as a result of climate change, posing serious security challenges for millions of people living downstream of dams." International Rivers said.
People living under the dam had only a few hours to evacuate before failing, according to the group.
"The communities did not give sufficient advance warning to ensure their safety and that of their families," the statement said. "This event raises major questions about dam standards and the safety of dams in Laos, including their relevance to climate conditions and risks. "
Seven villages in Sanamxay, Attapeu province, were flooded and more than 6,000 displaced Xe-Pian Xe-Namnoy is one of the largest Of the 70 planned hydroelectric plants, under construction or construction in Laos, most of which are owned and operated by private companies, International Rivers reported.
The project consists of large dams on three tributaries of the Mekong River and several small dams auxiliaries or dams, including the one that failed.
South Korea and Thailand mobilize emergency assistance. Companies from both countries are involved. in the construction and financing of the Xe-Pian Xe-Namnoy project, which was to supply 90% of its electricity to Thailand once it became operational.
South Korea's President Moon Jae-in instructed his government "The investigation is still going on to find the causes of the dam incident, but our government should not waste time in Actively participate in rescue and relief operations in Laos, because our own companies are involved in construction, "Moon said, according to his office.
Repeated phone calls to the spokesperson's office at SK Engineering & Construction headquarters in Seoul were unanswered on Wednesday. The company, which has a contract to operate the power plant when it is completed, said its officials and workers at SK Engineering & Construction in Laos had joined the relief effort. SK deployed a helicopter and 11 boats, and Korea Western Power sent two boats and its local medical staff.
On Wednesday evening heavy rains fell on the wavy roof of the Paksong Fortune Shelter where a few hundred people had found shelter
The sky, cloudy in the afternoon, had become as cloudy as a gauze. Some ambulances trailed in the twilight, leaving in their wake traces of red and blue lights.
Inside, adults and children wandered in sandals and soiled clothes, eating sticky rice in plastic foam bowls. Some were sitting on blue and orange tarps that had been spread on the concrete floor, and many were staring at them with empty looks.
A makeshift canteen, with sticky rice pots, had been installed in the covered parking garage of the warehouse.
Ms. Chantamart said that she had little hope that there was something left of her home or village
"Every house is gone," she said. Chantamart said that she was not sure who would be responsible for the deluge. But she said the government and the company behind the dam should take more action to help the victims.
"People here are shocked, scared and sorry for each other because of our loss" around her.
About 70 percent of the people in her village belonged to minority ethnic groups, she said. Most have grown rice and coffee. Khamla Souvannasy, a Paksong official, said the local authorities were fighting to support the hundreds of people who had gathered at the warehouse. he said, as a particularly strong rain hit the roof of the warehouse. "We are always looking for mattresses."
He added, "The disaster happened so quickly, there is no way to be prepared, but we will continue to work and work."
"Everyone here has all lost: animals, our homes, "said Den Even Den, a farmer from Xay Done Khong. "All we have left is our lives."
Mike Ives reported from Paksong, Laos; and Richard C. Paddock from Bangkok. Ben C. Solomon contributed to Paksong's reporting; Choe Sang-Hun from Seoul, South Korea; and Muktita Suhartono from Jakarta, Indonesia.
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