Due to the impact of Typhoon Yagi, on the morning of September 10, a massive flash flood buried the entire Nu village, Phuc Khanh commune, which consisted of 37 households (158 residents), and claimed the lives of 43 people. Currently, 17 people are being treated in hospitals, and 52 are still missing (as of 5:50 p.m. on September 12). This village, far from the district center, was isolated due to floods and had no communication signals.
    |
 |
|
Deploying a plan for traveling to the landslide site |
On the evening of September 10, according to the information from residents near the landslide site, rescue efforts by authorities had to be halted as heavy rain continued, with power outage and a complete loss of communication in the affected area and nearby.
That same evening, upon receiving an urgent request to restore communication in Phuc Khanh commune, Bao Yen district overnight, and to ensure full network coverage of the landslide area to support rescue operations, the Viettel Lao Cai branch (the Lao Cai branch of the Military Industry-Telecoms Group (Viettel)) immediately dispatched personnel to the landslide site.
|
|
 |
|
Viettel staff moving to the landslide site on September 10 night |
Later that evening, four Viettel staff members from Bao Yen district managed to find a way to approach the site and identified a location to set up the LCI0156-11 base transceiver station. Subsequently, the Viettel provincial branch sent an additional five staff members who traveled by motorbike and on foot over a long distance, carrying equipment and tools (batteries, antennas, generators, cables, etc.) to the landslide site and immediately began installing the mobile base transceiver station.
According to sources at the site, this was the first time Viettel had deployed this new 4G technology base transceiver station for emergency disaster response. The special advantage of this station is its ability to transmit signals over greater distances and penetrate challenging terrain better than conventional 4G stations in Vietnam.
By around 2 a.m. on September 11, the LCI0156-11 base transceiver station successfully began transmitting, ensuring communication for rescue operations at the most severe landslide area in Lao Cai province. On September 11, additional professional rescue forces arrived to assist with disaster recovery in Nu village.
Translated by Trung Thanh