An official is checking one of the relics damaged by termites (Photo: VNA) A survey by the Institute of Ecology and Works Protection in collaboration withthe Hoi An Cultural Heritage Conservation Management Centre (CHCMC)recently revealed 265 of the 800 historical relics in the old quarter of HoiAn Town have some levels of termite problems.
The survey said these relics have been severely damaged since therecent COVID-19 social distancing last July.
They also issued an urgent warning that solutions should be neededimmediately to prevent the damage and keep the termites away, or therelics would be completely destroyed in a short time.
Pham Phu Ngoc, Director of the CHCMC, said the termites had causedrapid degradation of the relics.
"It is really a big challenge for all of us," he said.
Nguyen Thi Linh, owner of the old house at 41 Nguyen Thai Hoc in MinhAn ward, said: "Hoi An is located at the end of the Thu Bon River, itsuffers a lot from annual floods, along with that is hot weather and raincausing humidity. These are very favourable conditions for termites togrow and develop rapidly."
From the end of September to October last year, the ancient townsuffered about 10 floods so termites appeared more often and with highdensity than usual, Linh said.
Linh complained her family's old house, as well as many others in the oldquarter of the town in the central province of Quang Nam, werealready damaged by storms and floods and now faced termites.
The survey determined many of the damaged relics are located in Minh An, Cam Phoand Son Phong wards. Nearly 200 of them are classified in the list ofspecial conservation.
"They are all now being attacked and seriously damaged by termites,"the survey said.
After the social distancing due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many houseson ancient streets as well as in the alleyways of the town stillremain in a state of shutdown as their owners live elsewhere or thetenants are not running their business due to a lack of tourists and customers.
The streets are deserted and old houses are also closed without housekeepers.
"No tourists, no residents. It is just a chance for termites,"said an official who wished to remain anonymous.
The survey showed many relic buildings are heavily impacted by termites intheir main structures including the major pillars, walls, front doors,floors and ceilings.
Damage by termites not only destroys the structure of the building butalso harms the beauty and architecture of the works.
Many of the wooden surfaces infected with termites have become very roughand eroded, losing their architectural forms.
The Chua Cau (Pagoda Bridge) is one example of termite infestation and thecultural heritage symbol's pillars have been badly damaged.
"The prevention and control of termites is a regular activity implementedby the centre to protect the relics from destruction," said Ngoc.
According to the official, most of the historical relics in the ancient townare made of wood so are easy targets for termites.
"The centre has been closely working with the community to installequipment to draw out and kill termites, but can only partiallyhandle the issue. We are unable to solve it completely," he said.
The official added that after each rainy season, the weather changed,causing humidity that helped termites appear more in the wooden relics.
Due to climate change, the weather is increasingly erratic, creating favourableconditions for termites to develop and impact relics very quickly, accordingto Ngoc.
The official said termite prevention should be undertaken at the sametime as regular restoration and preservation.
A report from the Hoi An People’s Committee revealed that in addition tobuildings inside the old town impacted by termites, there were nearly 370more works outside also built of wood that have been damaged.
In January this year, the committee issued a decision allowing the centre towork with a consultant company to survey termite damage at relics outside theold quarter./.
VNA