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Re: DDe^ o+? Mekong Delta (fwd from anh Buulong Nguyen)
Anh Buu Long, anh Vu Hong Lam,
Buu Long's message was very comprehensive. There is another Long who has
done a lot of research in the Mekong's area. Pham Phan Long heads up the
group that are studying the World Bank's proposal to develop the Mekong.
He has published several articles on this subject.
I could not help it even though I would rather not commenting on the
abilities of the so called "Ky Su
Thuy Loi cua cac nam 1975-85" . People told me that they did not think
that the "engineers" were that stupid, they think that they had orders
from higher up to create
mega-labor-project to keep people occupied, whether these projects were
useful or
not. The projects in Do`ng Thien An Hue illustrated how futile they
were. They mobilized ten of thousands of people to build dikes and
dams so the water can run uphill !!!
They finally abandoned the project after wasting all resources. Whether
theese projects served a political purpose or not, the "engineers " can
still make it into a useful one if they had the know how.
If anyone has followed the flood damages in the US in the last three
years, and currently in Dakota, Manitoba along the Red River, one
would marvel at the strength of nature. But people can contain some of
the flood damages. After experiencing the 1927
flood in Lousiana where 500 people died and 700,000 people lost their
homes, Lousiana embarked upon a tremendous public work project to build
dams around New Orleans (New Orleans is lower than sea level). THis has
saved
thi city from all major flooods. This project already cost 47 billion
dollars and will cost another 120 billion by the time this project is
complete (30 more years).
People in South Florida has flat land, and rather than building dams,
they digs ponds and canals. These worked well for them because of the
soil condition and elevation.
I read (in VNSA as a matter of fact) that people are filling up small
lakes near Hanoi to build houses. I am not sure if these lakes were man
made or natural, but the potential is there for more flood if this
continues to go unchecked.
One should never ignore local people experience. Our hero Tran
Hung Dao consulted local people on Bach Dang river's high and low tides.
By igoring Mekong people's input, one wasted lots of resources, bring
suffering to the people, and create mistrust in them.
There are plenty of Vietnamese civil engineers with hydraulics background
and experiences overseas, as well as specialists in other fields. The UNDP
has funds to send these
home as expatriats to help study these problems or to conduct workshops.
So far, the Vietnamese government has not taken advantages of these
programs becasue of various reasons I would rather not going into. Maybe
with more Vietnamese students studying and doing research here in the US,
some of them can create a bridge for better communications and things may
change for the better.
Sincerely,
Lam
>
> On Mon, 28 Apr 1997, Hong Lam Vu wrote:
>
> > Mi`nh nghi~ la` o+? MekongDelta ne^n dda`o ke^nh ho+n la` ne^n dda('p dde^
> > nhu+ o+? RedRiverDelta. I may be wrong and sorry for my ignorance.
>
> Hi ba'c La^m,
>
> Tui cu~ng nghi~ nhu+ ba'c la` dda('p dde^ kho^ng co' lo+.i o+? Mekong delta.
>
> No^ng da^n Nam bo^. kho^ng dda`o nhie^`u ke^nh sa^u, va` cu~ng kho^ng
> dda('p dde^, cha('c la` co' ly' do. Hy vo.ng la` ca'c ky~ su+ thu?y
> lo+.i cu?a nhu+~ng na(m 90 se~ kho^ng la^.p la.i sai la^`m cu?a nhu+~ng
> ddo^`ng nghie^.p cu?a ho. hai muo+i na(m ve^` tru+o+'c, khi ma` tu+ duy
> "duy y' chi'" la` ye^'u to^' quye^'t ddi.nh tha`nh ba.i.
>
> Ho^`i co`n nho? nghe tha^`y da.y mo^n DDi.a Ly' gia?ng la` da^n Nam bo^.
> kho^ng dda('p dde^ du` na(m na`o cu~ng bi. nu+o+'c nga^.p la` vi` co^' y'
> muo^'n dde^? cho nu+o+'c tra`n va`o ruo^ng mang theo phu` sa. Mo^~i na(m
> dda^'t ddu+o+.c la`m gia`u the^m la` nho+` va^.y. Kho^ng bie^'t ca'c nha`
> no^ng ho.c va` tho^? nhu+o+?ng ho.c nghi~ sao?
>
> Tui chi? hy vo.ng la` chi'nh phu? Vietnam se~ cho tie^'n ha`nh la`m
> feasibility study ha(?n ho`i, co' Technical-Scientific Commitee examining
> mo.i chuye^.n ha(?n hoi, tru+o+'c khi tie^'n ha`nh ke^' hoa.ch dda('p dde^
> na`y.
>
> Cu~ng muo^'n tin va`o su+. sa'ng suo^'t cu?a nha` nu+o+'c ta la('m nhu+ng
> cu+' nghi~ dde^'n nhu+~ng co^ng tri`nh va` du+. a'n nhu+ ddu+o+`ng da^y
> ddie^.n cao the^' Ba('c Nam, nha` ma'y lo.c da^`u Dung Qua^'t, quo^'c lo^.
> Tru+o+`ng So+n ..., la.i e ra(`ng kie^?u ha`nh ddo^.ng duy y' chi' va^~n
> co`n ddang thi.nh ha`nh la('m.