Vietnam Floods

Oct 2016
As Sarika hurricane moves towards the western Pacific Ocean basin, the town of Virac received about 22 inches
of rain on October 14-15, 2016. Other nearby towns received over 21 inches of rain. Oct 16, Sarika is still
moving forward, impacting the town of Baler, as a category 4 with 130 mph winds. After impacting the
Philippines, Sarika made another landfall on Chinas Hainan Island on Oct 18 with 10 inches of rain. The Asian
monsoon has been the strongest in many years, and villagers feared the worst will come not knowing if Sarika
will hit them at full force.

A monsoon is a seasonal shift in the wind direction that changes weather patterns. Luckily, Sarika then
weakened to a tropical storm before moving inland between Vietnam and China on Oct 19.
As hurricane Sarika was close to the town of Vivan in the Philippines October 14 and 15, villagers in Vietnam
were feeling the effects, as heavy rains and flooding were moving upon them, killing 11 people and displacing
thousands, and submerging tens of thousands of homes. Crops were destroyed, livestock washed away, there
was no clean water to drink, and there was no food to eat.

The Asian monsoon has been the strongest in years, however the extreme floods also came from the release of
the dam water during the time of extreme rain. People from Quang Binh were questioning the release of water
by the hydropower plants. One provincial official said the discharges had caused water levels to rise fast, and
the operators working on the dams should have informed locals properly in advance. Officials did not warn the
villagers to move to higher ground, no one had time to prepare no one was informed. The water discharged from
the hydropower dams over the past two days has been blamed for the deaths of the villagers, livestock, and for
the flooding that submerged thousands of homes, displacing thousands, causing this natural disaster to become a
catastrophe.

2:17
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K4pNshjw1nQ
 Reflection

United States has many protocol and procedures in place in case of an emergency, with
weather forecasts, drills, sirens, avalanche control, ect.. Luckily with the technology we
have today emergency evacuations are in place, and we have to do our part by storing
food and water. However when thousands of people need help do we have enough
emergency responders, food, shelter? Could we minimize the severity of the problem? In
time of a disaster people just need to be helped, helped in many different ways, whether
its looking for a loved one, needing food and water, shelter, or a sense of safety and
security. We dont want to be placed in a tent for long periods of time. Almost in every
disaster people are placed in tents instead of shelters, with very little food and water,
without power or lavatories. The United States was in a similar situation with hurricane
Katrina. Emergency response activated an evacuation and thousands began heading out
of town. The sick, poor and the elderly were unable to leave. Thousands were displaced,
so everyone without a home had to go to the Superdome. Many bad things were
happening there, about 14,000 people were corralled with limited power, plumbing, and
insufficient supplies. People were trying to steal other peoples stuff and fights broke out.
Here in the United State over 18,000 perished in this emergency hurricane Katrina, we
were unprepared on how to handle the situation. Utah is in a different situation, we cant
warn people of an oncoming earthquake, maybe a massive fire, an avalanche, or flooding.
Yet with thousands needing aid is Utah prepared? I know that the United States will do
everything possible to send aid in an emergency situation, but will it be enough?