Flood preparedness of private households and small businesses in the Mekong Delta, Vietnam Heidi Kreibich, Philip Bubeck, Chinh Do Section Hydrology, German Research Centre for Geosciences (GFZ)
Introduction Vietnam is severely affected by floods, which cause damage to people and assets An efficient flood risk management is required, based on analysis of flood hazard, potential losses and the effectiveness of different mitigation measures H. Kreibich: Flood preparedness in the Mekong Delta
Flood risk management cycle Current flood risk management does not include private precaution Governmental damage assessment does not include indirect damage Results about the phases of the flood risk management cycle from interviews with households and small businesses will be presented H. Kreibich: Flood preparedness in the Mekong Delta
Survey Face-to-face interviews with households and businesses after the 2011 flood season Start in January End in February Thi-Chinh Do: The 2011 H. flood Kreibich: in the Mekong Flood delta preparedness in the Mekong Delta Slide 4
Survey Face-to-face interviews with households and businesses after the 2011 flood season Start in January 480 flood-prone households and 378 businesses in 4 districts of Can Tho city. 70 questions for households and 88 questions for businesses about the following topics: Flood characteristic, preparedness, early warning and emergency measures, damage to household and business, recovery, risk perception End in February Thi-Chinh Do: The 2011 H. flood Kreibich: in the Mekong Flood delta preparedness in the Mekong Delta Slide 5
Study area Can Tho city is considered the economic, educational and cultural centre of the Mekong delta Area: 1,390 km2 Population: 1.2 mil. inhabitants Study area and spatial location of the sampled households and businesses Influence by riverine and tidal flooding H. Kreibich: Flood preparedness in the Mekong Delta Thi-Chinh Do: The 2011 flood in the Mekong delta Slide 6
Household and building characteristics Household Business Poor household by Vietnamese criteria (%) 23 10 Average house value (USD) 6.400 20.800 Concrete houses (%) 46 69 Stilt houses (%) 64 31 H. Kreibich: Flood preparedness in the Mekong Delta Thi-Chinh Do: The 2011 flood in the Mekong delta Slide 7
Flood preparedness sand bags concrete tile concrete sand bags Thi-Chinh Do: The 2011 H. flood Kreibich: in the Mekong Flood preparedness delta in the Mekong Delta Slide 8
Flood preparedness Household (%) Business (%) Gather information to protect house Gather information about expose 57 53 59 58 Join neighbor network 20 20 Avoid expensive furniture 33 37 Use mobile water barrier 46 55 Elevated floor 32 30 Thi-Chinh Do: The 2011 H. flood Kreibich: in the Mekong Flood preparedness delta in the Mekong Delta Slide 9
Flood preparedness Household (%) Business (%) Gather information to protect house Gather information about expose 57 53 59 58 Join neighbor network 20 20 Avoid expensive furniture 33 37 Use mobile water barrier 46 55 Elevated floor 32 30 Thi-Chinh Do: The 2011 H. flood Kreibich: in the Flood Mekong preparedness delta in the Mekong Delta Slide 10
Early warning and emergency measure Household (%) Business (%) Flood experience 74 65 Received warning 71 70 Applied emergency mesures 86 84 Thi-Chinh Do: The 2011 H. flood Kreibich: in the Flood Mekong preparedness delta in the Mekong Delta Slide 11
Reasons for not undertaking emergency measures Thi-Chinh Do: The 2011 H. flood Kreibich: in the Flood Mekong preparedness delta in the Mekong Delta Slide 12
Flood impact and damage Damage of floor and wall water level in house Furniture damaged Flood marks Thi-Chinh Do: The 2011 H. flood Kreibich: in the Mekong Flood preparedness delta in the Mekong DeltaSlide 13
Flood impact and damage Median values Household Business Water depth in house (cm) 30 20 Duration (days/month) 8 7 Distance to river (m) 10 20 Total damage (USD) 333 152 Thi-Chinh Do: The 2011 H. flood Kreibich: in the Mekong Flood preparedness delta in the Mekong DeltaSlide 14
Monetary flood damage Data Direct damage (median) Damage to structure Damage to content Total Indirect damage (median) Sale decrease (%) Losses(USD) Ratio (indirect damage/ direct damage) Groceries 48 19 157 40 200 1.3 Eat and drink 71 0 143 40 200 1.4 Home appliances 19 48 238 40 594 2.5 Service 24 0 143 40 228 1.6 Production facilities Total for business 119 14 285 30 95 0.3 48 10 152 40 209 1.4 Thi-Chinh Do: The 2011 H. flood Kreibich: in the Mekong Flood delta preparedness in the Mekong DeltaSlide 15
Recovery Repairing the floor Elevating the floor and roof Thi-Chinh Do: The 2011 H. flood Kreibich: in the Mekong Flood preparedness delta in the Mekong DeltaSlide 16
Conclusions Many people in Can Tho city have flood experience and were well prepare for the flood in 2011 However, households are more vulnerable than businesses since they live in lower quality buildings and are exposed to higher flood intensities Indirect damage of business is 1.4 times higher than their direct damage. Only 25% of businesses and 35% of households had repaired their houses 3 months after the flood H. Kreibich: Flood preparedness in the Mekong Delta Thi-Chinh Do: The 2011 flood in the Mekong delta Slide 17