BÌNH THUẬN — Extreme weather conditions resulting in a complex tide phenomenon, landslides and sea erosion are threatening coastal areas in central Bình Thuận Province, authority officials and local people have said.

Mai Kiều, director of the provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, said this week that landslides and erosion constantly hitting the province’s 10km coastline over the past 10 years had caused extensive damage to local life.

Tuy Phong District was the hardest hit area, with hundreds of households in the communes and townships, including La Gi, Tân Phước, Vĩnh Tân and Tiến Thành, faced with the high possibility of having to flee their homes.

Landslides and erosion have been increasingly impacting agricultural production; infrastructure, including roads and sea dykes; and particularly many protective forests.

The sea has completely destroyed over 450m of sea dykes and damaged nearly 300 houses and dozens of hectares of forest in the two areas of La Gi and Tân Phước alone, according to Kiều.

Last month, sea tides and waves 3-4m high devastated 150 households in Vĩnh Tân Commune, with some 300m of coastline completely eroded.