The damage was part of a series of landslides and flash floods in June and July that killed nearly 70 people and submerged thousands of homes in Vietnam’s northern provinces, including Lai Chau, where Ky’s family lives. Vietnam is already intensely exposed to disasters, but environment experts say climate change is making extreme weather increasingly frequent, unpredictable, and more severe.
Climate negotiators are meeting this week in Bangkok to continue hashing out guidelines that will determine how countries meet their commitments to tackle global warming.
Climate justice advocates say the results of the forthcoming discussions must help vulnerable countries adapt to and mitigate the impacts of climate change – like, they would argue, the early-season floods and landslides that hit Ky’s family and many of Vietnam’s northern provinces.
Experts say vulnerable families in remote communities are poorly prepared for the new climate reality: the escalating risks of damages and losses from increasingly unpredictable disasters, and preventable casualties in distant villages like Tua Sin Chai.
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Source: IRIN | 3 September 2018