GITHRA

Geo-Information Technology for

Hazard Risk Assessment

Vietnam

ADB project TA7220-VIE

Financed by the Republic of Korea e-Asia and Knowledge Partnership
Fund
 Disaster Risk
Reduction (DRR)
requires accurate and
up-to-date spatial
information as well as GITHRA
well-trained experts The GITHRA project is a concerted, ambitious
and unique attempt to build capacity on the
who can provide this application of modern Geo-IT for Hazard Risk
Assessment (HRA) and Disaster Risk
information. Reduction (DRR).

Staff of the Vietnamese Ministry of Agriculture

and Rural Development (MARD) and its
Disaster Risk Management related agencies
Vietnam is located in one of the storm
and programs (CCFSC, DDMFSC, DMC),
centers in the world, in one of the regions
project staff of ERCDP and faculty staff of
most hit by natural disasters and in one of
WRU, have received practical training,
most vulnerable regions when it comes to
theoretical background and hands-on
climate change impact.
experience in spatial data gathering,
management, analysis and presentation.
The Asian Development Bank gives top
priority to natural disaster control programs
Through the GITHRA training the staff should
anddhhas ffunded
d d numerous projects
j t iin
be able to contribute to DRR efforts by
Vietnam. For example, in response to recent
providing relevant and accurate spatial
disasters, the ADB has provided assistance
information and to carry out complex spatial
to the Government of Vietnam with the
Hazard Risk Analyses. This should contribute
Emergency Rehabilitation of Calamity
to a better understanding of disasters and
Damage Project (ERCDP).
support the development of mitigation options.
An essential component of the assistance is
to build capacity within Vietnam to develop
and implement DRR measures. Therefore
the ADB initiated the Technical Assistance
(TA-7220-VIE) package “Geo-information
Technology for Hazard Risk Assessment
(GITHRA)” for the Vietnamese Government.

Disasters are spatial phenomena and the

assessment of areas under high g risk
requires the use state of the art Geo-IT
technologies like Geographical Information
Systems (GIS) and Remote Sensing (RS).

GITHRA aims at building

capacity in the use of
G IT for
Geo-IT f HRA
GITHRA gives special attention to the use of Activities and Deliverables
spatial information
information, as it pla
plays
s a cr
crucial
cial role in the GITHRA produced the following deliverables:
different disaster phases for making information • Appropriate methodology for HRA in Vietnam;
available for decision-makers such as: hazard • Training Needs Assessment;
assessment, inventory of elements at risk • Training materials, including lecture notes,
mapping, vulnerability assessment and risk manuals and exercises;
assessment. • Pilot case study (Yen Bai);
• Training of selected staff;
GITHRA is a training
g • Development of a knowledge network in
Vietnam
Vietnam;
package for GIS experts • E-learning training package.

with a focus on DM These were achieved through a series of

activities over a period of 18 months, starting
in September 2009, see table below:
The university staff of the WRU will get the
training materials to offer similar courses to their
own students and to central and provincial
government staff in future. Consequently, the 20 staff members of
project will ultimately strengthen capacity at
individual and institutional level, improve WRU and MARD
collaboration and create awareness to include
hazard, vulnerability and risk information as an received 11 weeks of
essential component in planning.
training in GITHRA
Training Materials: Table of contents Guidebook:
The methodology for Multi-Hazard Risk Chapter 1: Introduction to DRM.
Assessment in Vietnam has been fully integrated Chapter 2: Spatial data for risk management
in a set of two books that form the core of the Chapter 3: Hazard assessment
training materials: Chapter 4: Elements at
“Geo-Information Risk
Technology for Hazard Chapter 5: Vulnerability
Risk Assessment –
agguidebook”
All training materials are Assessment
p 6: Risk analysis
Chapter y
(van Westen, ed.)
and
translated in Vietnamese Chapter 7: Risk
management
“Spatial Modelling of Chapter 8: Final
Natural Hazard assignments
Processes” (Jetten, ed.).
Table of contents Spatial Modelling:
With these books a set of GIS and RS exercises Chapter 1 Introduction
were developed that guide the participants Chapter
p 2 Drought g and water balance modellingg
through the whole process of Hazard, ulnerability Chapter 3: Catchment hudrology
and Risk Assessment. Chapter 4: Slope instability and landslides
Chapter 5: Surface Run-off and erosion
In addition to the data for the exercises, a Chapter 6: Flash floods
Vietnamese case-study was developed in Yen
Bai. Most assignments can be adapted to the
Vietnamese context.
Yen Bai Case Study Site The Yen Bai dataset is added to the
The city of Yen Bai was selected as training package and forms part of the
a case study site to test the exercises and the Final Assignments.
applicability of the MHRA
methodology developed in GITHRA Examples of the final assignments done
in the Vietnamese context. Yen Bai by the GITHRA participants:
is the provincial capital of the
province with the same name. The 1) Flood hazard assessment in Yen Bai
old center is located on the 2) Flood damage to houses and people
floodplain of the Red River and the 3) Economic flood loss assessment
newly developed parts encroach 4) Shelter location assessment in Yen
into the surrounding hills. Bai for flood disasters
5) Flood risk preparedness
Yen Bai suffers frequently from alluvial
management and communication
flooding from the Red River, flash floods
from the tributaries coming from the hills
and landslides due to slope cuts. In 2008
the city was severely flooded and
experienced numerous landslides due to
typhoon Kummari.

For the case study a geo-spatial database

was constructed that includes
topographical information, elevation data,
high-resolution satellite imagery, land
cover data,
d t etc.t With GITHRA funding
f di
automatic meteo-stations were installed as
well as water-level monitoring station at
various locations in the study area. These
stations will provide temporal information
on rainfall and stream runoff which will be
vital for future flood hazard analyses. Also
geo-technical data – relevant for slope-
stability analysis – were obtained using
field- and laboratory tests.
 a b
Maximum water depth maps for Red River floods with different return periods: a) 5 years; b) 10 years; c) 25 years;
and d) 50 years.
E-learning package
An e-learning package was compiled with all
training materials. It comprises a complete
suite of exercise descriptions, together with
an open source GIS software (ILWIS), GIS
data answer sheets
data, sheets, guidance notes and
presentation materials. The e-learning
package is web-supported with interaction
between teacher and student through Skype,
email and/or Facebook. Staff of the WRU can
develop themselves further to become
trainers. Because all materials have been
translated into Vietnamese they can cater for
the Vietnamese market. Of course
international input from the GITHRA partners
is still possible.
Study tour to Thailand
Vietnam is not the only country in the region
that suffers from hydro-meteorological
disasters – and it is also not the only country
that actively seeks ways to deal with them.
The GITHRA participants were exposed to
the latest developments in disaster risk
reduction activities in Thailand. This serves as
inspiration for new ideas in Vietnam, but also
exposes the participants to the wider regional
community of DRR experts.
The GITHRA team acknowledges the support of Yen
Bai Province, Yen Bai Municipality, DoNRE and DARD
of Yen Bai Province and the authorities and inhabitants
of the Local Communities in the case study area.
c d
GITHRA partners
The International Institute for Geo-Information
Science and Earth Observation (ITC) – since
January 2010 Faculty Sui Generis of the
University Twente, the Netherlands - was
established in 1950 by the Netherlands
government to enhance the capacity of
organizations in developing countries in surveying,
mapping and spatial analysis. www.itc.nl
The Asian Institute of Technology (AIT) has been
involved in human resource development in the
Asian region nearly for five-decades through
education, research, training and implementing
project services. The Geoinformatics Center at
AIT has conducted several disaster management
projects in the region including Vietnam.
www.ait.ac.th
The Asian Disaster Preparedness Center (ADPC)
is a leading regional non profit organization based
in Thailand. Established in 1986, it is a resource
center
t dedicated
d di t d tto create
t safer
f communitiesiti andd
sustainable development through disaster risk
reduction. Since its inception, ADPC has been
providing technical assistance and training to
governments, international organizations, NGO’s
and and local groups. www.adpc.net
VINBEL Solution has relevant technical
experience in disaster management and the use
of GIS and RS, as well as in capacity building
assignments in this field for a broad range of
donors and client organizations. www.vinbel.com
For more information on GITHRA, contact:
Dr. Dinand Alkema – team leader
alkema@itc.nl