With a total investment of over VND 83.5 billion from the central budget reserve, a project to build an embankment to protect production land and residential areas and regulate the water flow from Mường Pồn 1 and 2 villages to Tin Tốc village in Mường Pồn commune was deployed in October 2025. According to the design, the revetment route affects more than 32,000m² of agricultural land belonging to 145 households across four villages: Tin Tốc, Lĩnh, Mường Pồn 1, and Mường Pồn 2.

To accelerate construction progress, many households voluntarily donated land, willingly putting aside their private interests for the common good. This reflects a high spirit of consensus between the government and the people, contributing to favorable conditions for site clearance.

Lò Văn Yêu from Tin Tốc village, Mường Pồn commune, shared that in the past, whenever the rainy season arrived, water from streams rose high, affecting the production and daily lives of many households in the village. Therefore, when the State invested in building the embankment along the stream to protect residential areas and reduce the risk of landslides and erosion during the rainy and flood season, the villagers all agreed and were ready to donate land so the project could be completed early, protecting the long-term interests of the community.

Thanks to public consensus, the project has now been completed and put into use, contributing to stabilizing the flow, limiting erosion, and safeguarding 90 households, 160 hectares of rice land, 2.5 hectares of aquaculture, and many technical infrastructure works in the area. The project also contributes to enhancing climate change adaptation, stabilizing livelihoods, and promoting the socio-economic development of Mường Pồn commune.

Reality shows that following painful losses, the people of Mường Pồn are increasingly raising their awareness of protecting lives and property. The disaster response mindset of local residents is gradually shifting from “passive” to “active prevention.”

While in the past, during heavy rains, many people only took temporary shelter and waited for the water to recede, there is no longer a subjective or passive mentality. Villagers now proactively monitor weather developments to have timely response plans. Not only changing in awareness, the way houses are constructed has also seen positive turnarounds. Many households have proactively relocated from areas near streams and steep slopes, places with potential landslide risks, to live in safer locations.

In many villages across Mường Pồn commune, community-based disaster prevention and control have been effectively implemented through the establishment of village watch groups to respond to emergencies.

Lường Văn Bình, Secretary of the Lĩnh village Party Cell in Mường Pồn commune, stated that the village’s watch group was established with 14 members. Each person takes on a specific task, such as monitoring the weather, observing the flow, inspecting areas at risk of landslides, signaling warnings, and supporting resident evacuation. Consequently, disaster prevention and control are no longer the sole responsibility of the government but have become a shared duty of the entire community.

The production mindset of the people has changed positively, and cultivation activities have been adjusted to better suit local climate and terrain conditions. Many new crop varieties with good adaptive capacity have been introduced into production, contributing to minimizing risks caused by natural disasters.

According to Mường Pồn leaders, to raise public awareness in responding to natural disasters, the locality closely follows Plan No.1750/KH-UBND of the provincial People’s Committee on implementing the project “Raising community awareness and community-based disaster risk management until 2030” for the 2026 - 2030 period in the province.

“In addition to executing the ‘four on-site principles’ of command, forces, equipment, and logistics, the commune pays special attention to propaganda and raising awareness for the people. Diverse communication forms have been deployed, such as training courses and skills guidance to prevent and respond to common types of natural disasters, especially storms, tropical depressions, heavy rains, floods, flash floods, and landslides, step-by-step forming a culture of proactive disaster prevention in the community,” Nguyễn Văn Lương, Chairman of the Mường Pồn commune People’s Committee, said.

For Mường Pồn commune in particular and highland localities in the province in general, natural disasters remain a constant and unpredictable risk. Natural disasters are unavoidable, but damages can be significantly reduced if the community’s and individuals’ awareness of prevention and control is elevated. The most important thing is that each citizen needs to be sensitized to clearly understand their role. When every individual and every family is proactive, the entire community will become a solid shield against all challenges of nature.