With 46 hydropower plants currently, Laos plans to have a total of 100 dams by 2020 to serve the energy-starved Mekong region. That could help the one party-ruled country achieve its ambition of becoming "the battery of Southeast Asia". But the dam collapse in Attapeu in southeastern Laos on Monday shows how easily catastrophes can happen.
The latest disaster, which has resulted in at least 26 deaths, hundreds missing and more than 6,000 homeless, reminds dam developers and governments that no one should underestimate the extent of the potential threats associated with building dams.
Previously, a number of smaller dam breaches took place in Laos and neighbouring Cambodia and Vietnam which should have spurred the attention of governments over construction safety.
Last year, the Nam Ao dam in Laos' Xieng Khouang province burst and flooded farmland, ravaging seven villages downstream. No deaths or injuries were reported.
In 2012, according to conservation group International Rivers, the Stung Atay hydroelectric project, which was then under construction in western Cambodia collapsed, injuring four workers with three others going missing. In Vietnam, the Song Tranh 2 dam in Quang Nam province cracked in October 2012 due to earthquakes, prompting authorities to review and cancel other hydropower projects in the area. A month later, another dam, Dak Mek 3 collapsed.
This week's collapse of one of the five auxiliary dams supporting the Xe Pian-Xe Namnoy dam in Attapeu took place ahead of its planned operation next year. While unusually heavy rains were blamed for the massive flooding and breach, questions linger over whether the man-made structures are capable of handling extreme weather and how prepared the developer and the government are when it comes to dealing with such a disaster.
The dam breach has also renewed concerns over the safety of numerous other dams -- either operational, planned or under construction in the region.
On the Mekong mainstream itself, 11 dams have been planned by Lao and Cambodian governments. Construction of the Xayaburi project in northern Laos has nearly been completed and the dam is scheduled to be operational next year. In addition to its adverse impacts on fishery and agriculture because of potential changes in the river's flow and sedimentation, the safety of this mega-dam has also been brought into question by activists since the project is located just 100 kilometres from a fault line and therefore could be vulnerable to earthquakes.
During a mandatory inter-governmental consultation, the developer tried to come up with alterations to the dam's design but this did little to quell concerns raised by critics.
Unlike the dams on the Mekong mainstream, the Xe Pian-Xe Namnoy dam is among some 71 projects to be built on its tributaries and they are not required to undergo such regional consultations. That means there is little or no public scrutiny over how these projects are designed and operated by private companies. While there are recommended designs for dams made available by some organisations, whether the developers of these dams have opted for any of those choices is open to question.
At the same time, the effects of climate change, such as heavy rainfall or rising sea levels, could become more severe and less predictable in the years to come. This means even the best dam design today may not be resilient enough to deal with future scenarios.
The latest and previous incidents show there could still be flaws in dam designs. The Mekong governments, as either producers or buyers of electricity from these projects, should not be complacent about the potential dangers. They should slow the pace of hydropower development, let the public participate and seek alternative renewables.
For the thousands of homeless in Attapeu, many of whom have lost their family members, friends and relatives, their suffering is not just caused by Mother Nature but also man-made structures.