Despite efforts to save the beach from erosion, big waves and strong winds have washed away a 300m section of Cua Dai Beach, 5km from Hoi An ancient town, over the past four days this week.
Despite efforts to save the beach from erosion, big waves and strong winds have washed away a 300m section of Cua Dai beach, 5km from Hoi An, over the past four days this week. — VNS/Photo Hoai Nam
Chairman of the central Hoi An City's People's Committee, Nguyen Van Dung said over 300 volunteers, excavators and hundreds of sand bags and bamboo poles have been used to prevent heavy erosion over the past two years, and this time was the worst.
"We raced against time to save this beautiful beach and a favourite destination of tourists. We have spent much money to combat erosion, but our endeavours were in vain when part of the beach was washed away in rainy season," Dung said.
"Locals built a dike out of bamboo and sandbags to limit the erosion, but it's just a temporary solution. We need a long-term method to protect the beach," he said.
Dung said the city had submitted a possible solution, Geotube, with consultancy of experts from the Netherlands.
He explained that a 1,100m Geotube sandbag dike, which lays under the water, would be set up 60m away from beach to prevent big waves washing sand away from the beach.
He said the emergency solution will cost VND35 billion (US$1.6 million), but the funds had yet to be approved by the government.
The city reported that about 8ha of Cua Dai public beach had been washed away and dozens of resorts in the area were in danger of collapsing.
An expert from Hoi An blamed the erosion on the construction of resorts on the beach and the lack of proper environmental assessments before dredging occurred in the estuary.
The city has planned an investment of VND7.5 billion ($357,000) to replant 140ha of Nipa palm along the Thu Bon River to reduce sand erosion in Cua Dai beach, but the ecological solution has not yet been approved.
