by Zhang Jianhua, Wang Shan
VIENTIANE, Nov. 21 (Xinhua) -- The victims of a dam collapsing in southern Laos are now expecting better lives with the support and help from the government and other sources.
The fracturing of saddle dam D, one of five auxiliary dams at the under-construction Xe-Pian Xe-Namnoy hydropower project, some 560 km southeast of Lao capital Vientiane, resulted in massive flooding on July 23.
Some 13,000 people were affected, mainly in the Sanamxay District of Attapeu Province and more than 40 people were killed. Around 100 people still remain missing and more than 6,000 have been left homeless.
The Hadyao Temporary Residence for Affected Area Residents is located on a former school in downtown Sanamxay. The school's entire playground is now being used as a base for temporary housing.
Each household, comprising dozens of square meters, while still crowded, all look neat. As of mid-November, there was full water and electricity supply in the homes, and the victims had made their houses livable, with some putting up hammocks to relax during their stay.
Not far from the housing area, there are toilets, bathrooms, laundry rooms, and water purifiers. Educational posters on hygiene and disease prevention are also posted at the settlement.
"My husband does not have a formal job now. He used to drive to nearby city Pakse carrying goods to sell here, but the flood washed the truck away leaving him jobless," Phetsamon Chanthoumphone, a 40-year housewife, told Xinhua recently, while watering vegetables in foam boxes outside her temporary home.
Phetsamon's five-member family in Hadyao are optimistic about the future. "I heard our government is building a permanent residence for us," she said, adding that she believed that life for her family and the others displaced would improve.
Fearing possible outbreaks of disease and viruses and under the threat from upstream reservoirs, while also considering the mental health of those displaced, the Lao government decided not to rebuild the permanent residence in the flooded area, but chose six other locations to build new villages.
The temporary residence at Dong Bak is located on the road leading to the area where the dam fractured in Sanamxay. A new village is under construction across the road from the settlement.
The ground for the village has been cleared and machinery and equipment for construction is currently on-site.
Some vendors have also gathered in the vicinity and set up tents to start business as a future community starts to take shape.
In the temporary residences, people have planted a variety of vegetables and fruits in the open space between the residential areas and the public facilities.
Children happily play where they can and the elderly keep cool in the shade. The Hadyao Residence also witnessed its first wedding recently. Life for those displaced is slowly but surely returning to something approximating normal.
In the wake of extensive damage caused by the flood, new infrastructure is being put into place. Bridges, decorated with Lao and Chinese national flags, that several Chinese companies have participated in constructing, are particularly outstanding.
On September 26, Chinese engineering companies, currently building the China-Laos railway in northern Laos, assisted in building four bridges in Attapeu for the Lao government.
To honor the achievement and contribution of the Chinese engineering companies, Lao Prime Minister Thongloun Sisoulith signed an order of commendation for the Laos-China Railway Company, China Railway No. 2 Group (CREC2) and the Power China Corporation.
The Chinese engineering companies along the China-Laos railway construction sites proactively responded to the Lao government's request, donating cash and materials to the disaster-hit areas and assisting in urgently building four bridges to access the flooded villages of Attapeu Province.
In less than 50-days, the CREC2 and Sinohydro Bureau 10 under the Power China Corporation, with the guidance from the Laos-China Railway Company, completed the construction of four brand new bridges in southern Laos' flooded Attapeu.
