Vietnam - HCM City Fly invasion squashed

[Sally Furniss]

<table><tbody><tr><td class="tintop_title" align="left" valign="top">HCM City authorities organise urgent meeting to discuss flies</td></tr><tr><td class="news_date" align="left" height="20" valign="top">17:21' 03/06/2009 (GMT+7) </td></tr><tr><td class="text" align="left" valign="top">

VietNamNet Bridge ? Senior officials of HCM City health and environmental agencies met on June 2 to seek solutions to deal with fly outbreaks in several communes in Binh Chanh district, HCM City.​

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Hundreds of families in the three communes have had to live with flies for some days. They have to take meals inside nets to avoid flies.​

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?I can?t imagine how many flies there are. Whenever there is no wind, flies fly into my house and perch on everything. The local health workers sprayed chemicals three days ago but it is was ineffective,? said Mr. Hai Cua in Phong Phu commune.​

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Local people have tried various measures to kill flies, such as spraying kerosene, petrol and chemicals, burning mosquito-killing incense, but these methods have been useless.​

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?I have to put a keg of sugar water in the yard to attract flies from my house but this is a temporary measure. I cannot afford it longer,? said a local woman named Thu.​

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Binh Chanh district Preventive Health Bureau acting Director Lai Phuoc Hoa told VietNamNet that the average density of flies is 10-50 flies/sq.m and up to 100 flies/sq.m at wet areas.​

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Health workers have sprayed a chemical named Permecid 50 EC several times but this chemical was only able to kill around 40% of flies. Moreover, after several times of use, this chemical is not very effective anymore.​

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An official from the HCM City Department of Natural Resources and the Environment said that the flies come from Da Phuoc dumping ground, which is around 500m from the afflicted sites.​

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The health agency has asked HCM City authorities to tell the company managing Da Phuoc dumping ground to take action to mitigate flies.
http://english.vietnamnet.vn/Health/2009/06/851112/
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[Sally Furniss]

Re: Vietnam - HCM City authorities organise urgent meeting to discuss flies

Re: Vietnam - HCM City authorities organise urgent meeting to discuss flies

Flies plague three Ho Chi Minh City communes

Pham Thi Thom of Da Phuoc Commune in Ho Chi Minh City?s Binh Chanh District shows a sticky cardboard sheet covered in dead flies
Swarms of flies have descended on three communes in Ho Chi Minh City?s Binh Chanh District in the past month and the steps taken to eliminate them have had little effect.

The flies come from a dump site of the Da Phuoc Solid Waste Treatment Complex, Health Department Deputy Director Le Truong Giang told Tuoi Tre newspaper during an inspection of the site on Thursday.

Inspectors found maggots and larvae in the garbage of the fly-infested complex, which is owned and operated by Vietnam Waste Solutions Company.

The Health Department sprayed insecticide around the three communes on the same day, but the flies continued to swarm.

Giang then ordered free flytraps for the residents and told everyone to be more hygienic.

His department and the Department of Natural Resources and Environment on Friday sat down with Vietnam Waste Solutions to talk about eliminating fly breeding at the dump.

The company?s deputy director, Huynh Thi Lan Phuong, told Vietnam News Agency that the maggot infestation could be down to the increase in organic waste being taken to Da Phuoc, as well as the wet weather.

Earlier, the authorities had rejected accusations that the waste treatment complex was behind the invasion of flies into residential areas.

On May 25, the Health Department said in a report that garbage processing at Da Phuoc was monitored every week by the Department of Natural Resources and Environment.

It even described the complex as hygienic and odor-free, and suggested that some of the small garbage dumps and cattle dung in residential areas could be partly responsible for the plague of flies.

Dump to blame

There?s no doubt among the residents where the flies come from. Since the fly invasion began more than a month ago they have blamed Da Phuoc and complained about the stench.

Pham Thi Hong Chau of Da Phuoc Commune said the flies were so bad that her family had to eat in bed under the mosquito net.

Her neighbor, Pham Thi Thom, pulled out a sheet of cardboard she had coated with glue before hanging up to catch the flies; it was black with dead insects.

?This is the fifth or sixth piece of cardboard I?ve been through,? she said.

Another resident used bowls of water to trap flies, but to little avail.

In neighborhoods 13 and 14 of Da Phuoc Commune, a survey by the Preventive Health Agency of Binh Chanh District determined there were between 10 and 50 flies per square meter in the houses, and up to 80 per square meter in their kitchens and toilets.

?It?s terrible! They have stormed the area,? Hai Cua from Phong Phu Commune told newswire VnExpress.

The district authorities sprayed the area but Cua said the flies were as thick as ever.

Hanh of the same commune said the flies had attacked an infected cut on her daughter?s leg.

Da Phuoc Solid Waste Treatment Complex began operating a year or so ago, but long-time residents said the fly problem was a recent development.

A score of workers sprayed insecticide in the three affected communes on Thursday but few flies were killed, Phap Luat Thanh Pho Ho Chi Minh newspaper reported.

Phan Van Nghiem of the Health Department said the number of flies had fallen dramatically.

Deputy Director Giang reckoned the spraying had forced the flies elsewhere, albeit temporarily as many residents said the insects were back.

Deputy Dang Van Khoa of the HCMC People?s Council, who was also at the waste treatment complex on Thursday, said the relevant authorities should take urgent action as the fly crisis could cause widespread acute diarrhea at any time.

http://www.thanhniennews.com/features/?catid=10&newsid=49576

 

[Sally Furniss]

Re: Vietnam - HCM City authorities organise urgent meeting to discuss flies

Re: Vietnam - HCM City authorities organise urgent meeting to discuss flies

Fly invasion squashed in Ho Chi Minh City
An infestation of flies that recently plagued the outskirts of southern Vietnam?s largest city has been eradicated, the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Health said Wednesday.


The infestation, which took the worst toll on neighborhoods around the Da Phuoc Waste Treatment Plant in Binh Chanh District, was curbed mainly by traps, said Dr. Phan Van Nghiem, chief of the department?s specialized medical tasks section.


The average chemically-armed trap could kill 1,000-5,000 flies, said Nghiem.

Over the past several weeks, many households in the district?s Da Phuoc, Phong Phu and Quy Duc communes had complained of fly infestations. Many families had been forced to eat their meals under mosquito nets.

The waste treatment complex, owned and run by Vietnam Waste Solutions Company, has been operating for a little over a year.

Reported by Thanh Tung
http://www.thanhniennews.com/healthy/?catid=8&newsid=49900