Reported by Trung Duong – Tien Trinh 2000 custard apple trees. Around four years old. To a tree, they withered and died. That was a month ago. Now, he can do nothing but watch a hectare of his mango trees fade in the relentless heat. “Drought like this… there’s no way I can save the trees,” says Tien of An Cu Commune, Tinh Bien District in the Mekong Delta province of An Giang, whose family’s livelihood depends on the fruit trees. The farmer has faced drought in the mountainous region earlier, but he has “surrendered to the rare harsh heat of this year.” Actually, Tien is not worried about water for the trees. Not anymore. “I’d have to leave them anyway. But if it keeps being so hot, even people would have little water.” Tien had spent VND4 million (US$208) trying to drill a borewell to save his trees, but the workers left after several days of looking for water and finding nothing underground. Wells and ponds around the nearby Dai (Long) Mountain have exposed their bottoms and the rivers are barely flowing. The Ba Den Well in the commune is the main source of water for people in Tinh Bien District, especially on hot days like these. But residents have noticed that the well has much less water than in previous years. “Without that well, it will be really hard for people here,” says Do Van Phat, an old man living at the foot of Phu Cuong Mountain. … More than 1,000 families in Bien Bach Commune of the delta’s Ca Mau Province are also facing a severe water shortage. Some ponds that still have water in the area have been salinized, said commune head Tran Van Tuan. … In the central region, people in the mountainous Dakrong District of Quang Tri Province are saying the heat has come earlier and is much more harsh than usual. And the forest fire in Sa Thay District, Kon Tum was still blazing as of March 17 after destroying hundreds of hectares including primary forest.
‘Not a drop to drink’
