Devastation of wood workshops in the mountainous region of Bac Giang after storm No. 3

Bac Giang - Many plywood workshops in the mountainous district of Luc Nam suffered heavy damage after storm No. 3.

In the heavy rain on the afternoon of September 9, Mr. Nguyen Van Huan stood in a daze next to his 1,000m2 workshop that had completely collapsed after storm No. 3.

"Everything is gone," the man, who is nearly 50 years old, said as if he was about to cry.

Mr. Huan said that before the storm, the workshop had built a bracing system to stabilize the workshop and let the workers stay home to prevent the storm.

But when the storm came, the factory's tie-down rope broke, the entire factory's corrugated iron roof flew up, then collapsed. Hundreds of wooden planks in the warehouse and on the floor were almost completely damaged.

"We estimate that we need 500 - 700 million VND to restore operations. But it is not easy to find capital. If the factory cannot be restored, the dozen or so workers, all of whom are locals, will have to find other jobs," said Mr. Huan.

According to statistics, in Luc Nam district, there are currently more than 120 forest product processing facilities, most of which are peeled wood workshops, concentrated in the communes of Binh Son, Vo Tranh, Truong Son, Thanh Lam, and Bao Son.

On the afternoon of September 9, we went to many plywood workshops in Luc Nam and found that most of them were severely damaged by storm No. 3.

Mr. Chau Van Thuan, owner of another plywood workshop in Binh Son, said that on the morning of September 8, when he arrived at the workshop, he saw that the entire area was flooded. Some of the flooded workshop's forklifts are now broken, and the finished wooden boards are also all damaged.

"In general, it's very sad, all the efforts of the past few years are gone," said Mr. Thuan.

Mr. Ly Van Chinh - Chairman of Binh Son Commune People's Committee said that due to the impact of storm No. 3, in the commune, there was one village completely isolated, nearly 60 houses had their roofs blown off, 200 hectares of planted forest were completely destroyed, and 3,200 poultry were swept away.

"In particular, in the commune, there are 20 peeled wooden board workshops, of which 14 were severely damaged. Most of the workshops had their roofs blown off, and their warehouses collapsed almost completely, with damage ranging from 100 to 500 million VND/workshop," said Mr. Chinh.

Therefore, after the storm, the Commune People's Committee will propose to the Policy Bank to support capital for people to restore and maintain the operation of workshops to contribute to promoting the local socio-economy.

On the afternoon of September 9, the State Bank also issued a document requesting credit institutions to consider reducing loan interest rates, restructuring debts, and supporting new borrowers affected by storm Yagi.

Accordingly, people and businesses in localities affected by storm Yagi will be considered for debt repayment restructuring, interest rate reduction and continued new loans. This is to remove difficulties and support people and businesses to restore production and business after the storm.