Hundreds Missing, Thousands Homeless After Laos Dam Collapse

Hundreds of people are missing after a hydro power dam in Laos collapsed Tuesday, killing several and leaving over 6,000 without homes, according to the New York Times.

The $1.02 billion dollar, 410 megawatt dam was the first of its kind to be taken on by Korean companies in Laos, KPL, a local news source, said. Beginning the dam in 2013, it was a joint venture of the Xe-Pian Xe-Namnoy Power Company and several other power companies. Collapsing Monday night around 8 p.m., the dam released 5 billion cubic meters of water which swept away homes in the country’s southern border, near Vietnam and Cambodia.

Reports say heavy rain and flooding caused the collapse, after which SK Engineering and Construction Co., one of the bridges builders, sent helicopters, boats, and personnel to aid in rescue operations for the many people displaced by the rising waters.

A spokesman for the company said, “We are running an emergency team and planning to help evacuate and rescue residents in villages near the dam.”

Prime Minister Thongloun Sisoulith of Laos put a government meeting on hold, instead leading members of his cabinet to monitor rescue and relief efforts around the dam, KPL said.

The dam was initially designed to generate electricity from water which is diverted into three rivers in the southern Laotian province of Champasack. Set to begin operating in 2019, the dam was said to generate approximately 1,879 gigawatt hours of electricity a year, according to the power company’s website.

The landlocked, authoritarian state is one of the poorest countries in Asia and was planning on selling 90 percent of the dam’s electricity to neighboring Thailand and the other 10 percent within Laos. Hydro power dams are a major source of energy and funding in Laos as well as Southeast Asia but can be controversial because of instances such as this. The dams often displace poor rural citizens and impact fisheries in a negative way. The country has around 10 dams in operation, 10 to 20 under construction, and dozens more in planning stages.

Laos News Agency confirmed several lives had been lost and hundreds are missing, but a city official said it is difficult to have “formal information” because there is no phone signal in the flooded regions.

Six villages in the Sanamxay district experienced flash floods while hundreds of people were crammed into low-slung wooden boats and wading through muddy waters. Temporary shelters are being set up for villagers, many of whom lost their homes and almost everything they own.