Integrated flood risk assessment in Bui River Basin by Ngoc Huan Tran

Promotors/ supervisors: Prof. Dr. Konrad Miegel - Rostock University, Prof. Dr. Dung Trung Nguyen - Thuyloi University

Floods pose one of the biggest threats in Vietnam when it comes to natural disasters. It is difficult to manage and mitigate floods effectively without data about the impact and associated damages. Due to a lack of resources, the flood data collection is often scattered and inconsistent in Vietnam. In his PhD research, Huan aims to use remote sensing, modeling, in situ data in combination with citizen science data, to assess flood damages in the Bui River basin. 

Huan’s research seeks to illustrate the use of community-based data collecting in bridging flood information gaps to aid in flood risk assessment in the Bui River Basin, Vietnam. The study will use a citizen science approach to collect data and provide information to estimate flood hazard, exposure, and susceptibility. Flood hazard will be primarily assessed using hydrological and hydraulic models. Flood exposure will be estimated using land use maps through satellite images analysis. Data of local community residents from previous flood events will be utilized to create stage-damage functions for paddy rice, aquaculture areas, crops, and income loss, subsequently allowing the prediction of annual flood damages. The results can be used to evaluate the effectiveness of flood control measures in the area during future storm events. Furthermore, local residents will become more informed about flood causes and consequences, which will hopefully allow them to respond thereby reducing damages.