Author(s): Thi Thu Trang Nguyen
Linked Author(s):
Keywords: Flood Risk; Hazard Assessment; Vulnerability Assessment; Participatory approach; Participatory GIS; Yen Bai city
Abstract: Flooding has long been recognized as the most damaging and costly natural hazard in Vietnam considering the frequency and extent. Due to rapid urbanization in the floodplains, the frequency of devastating floods tends to be higher and the loss of human lives and property show no sign of decreasing. In order to minimize the impact of floods, an effective flood management system is required. However, for an effective risk management plan, we need high level of scientific and remote sensing information. These efforts are highly resource intensive and needs highly skilled man power. On the contrary, in this study participatory approaches were used to bridge the gap of scientists and the local community in disaster management. Yen Bai province is located in Northern part of Vietnam with hilly terrain and is under the influenc of Red River and Chay River basins. It’s capital city, Yen Bai experiences annual flooding through alluvial flood, urban flood and flash floods. Due to the rapid growth in population, urbanization and lack of proper urban planning, Yen Bai city has faced with a disastrous flood in 2008. The study focused on four communes of the Yen Bai city which are very close to the Red River and faced the flood very closely. In this study we reconstructed the flood event of 2008 using the people’s knowledge. Mobile GIS and Participatory-Mapping were used to capture people’s perceptions. This information is used with basic GIS operations to reconstruct the hazard maps. Simultaneously, vulnerability maps were generated using the people’s experiences with the flood event. Combining these two and adding expert’s knowledge, we calculated the risk faced by these four communes. The study concluded that asset base in the study area is very weak. Even though some families have better assets, their wellbeing does not change based on these assets. The savings and the asset creation of the households are being threatened by the chronic flooding events. Participatory mapping and community participation in Disaster management is worth using, in situations where financial and human resources are limited.
Year: 2014