Stuck in floods, many people ask for help online

“Everyone, please help save my friend's family.”,At around 11pm on September 9, an urgent request was posted on the OFFB group, stating that a family with 4 children (including 1 newborn), a 96-year-old man and 3 adults were trapped in a house with the entire first floor flooded in Thai Nguyen city. The water in this area was deep and the current was strong, so they had waited a long time but had not been able to call for help.

"The water is about to flood the second floor",The author of the post wrote worriedly.

This is just one of many distress calls sent to cyberspace from flooded areas where water levels are rising too quickly, such as Thai Nguyen, Yen Bai, and Lao Cai.

In Thai Nguyen City on the morning of September 9, the flood on the Cau River exceeded the emergency warning level by more than 1 meter, 17 communes and wards along the river were deeply flooded, water overflowed many main roads, the province had to close some roads and organize the evacuation of 1,200 households.

However, as the water continues to rise, the police, military and other authorities are making every effort to bring people to safety, but they still cannot assist everyone at the same time. Worried about the safety of themselves and their families as the flood situation remains alarming, many people have taken to Facebook, Zalo and other platforms to ask for help.

"Urgently asking for help from rescuers in Van Thanh area, Dong Bam ward, people really need rescue boats to come down and help. The water is up to the roof of the house," Ms. Minh Xuyen, living in Dong Bam ward, Thai Nguyen city, shared on Facebook. She said that her family had called the phone numbers of the authorities but perhaps because they were all overloaded, they could not contact them, so the whole family was very confused and scared.

The above messages were continued to be spread by relatives, friends, fellow countrymen and other netizens, and posted in large groups to increase the chances of timely rescue of those trapped in flooded areas. Along with that, images and videos of houses submerged in floodwaters, people having to climb onto rooftops to avoid the water... made their compatriots living in safer areas both moved, pitied and worried.

The flooding has posed a major challenge for local rescue teams. Many teams have reported a severe shortage of rescue equipment and manpower. In many places, phone signals have been cut off and power grids have been cut off, making communication extremely difficult.

Ms. Nguyen Hoang Nga (living in Hong Ha ward, Yen Bai city) shared on Facebook that her house is right on the street, and she clearly saw many canoes and rescue forces outside, but after waving her hand many times for help, she still did not receive any help because there were more urgent situations that needed them to come immediately. "They explained that priority would be given to low-lying areas that were more deeply flooded, so they had to give up the rescue canoe to the elderly and children who needed help more," she said.

Faced with this situation, the online community quickly responded to help people. In addition to sharing distress messages, many people also tried to contact charities and volunteer groups operating in the area to call for support. They also posted the phone numbers of rescue teams of authorities and volunteer groups for those who might need it.

In particular, many volunteer groups have plans to send boats, canoes, life jackets... to heavily flooded areas to help support and protect people's safety.