Multi-Variate Analyses of Flood Loss in Can Tho City, Mekong Delta

Abstract

Floods in the Mekong delta are recurring events and cause substantial losses to the economy. Sea level rise and increasing precipitation during the wet season result in more frequent floods. For effective flood risk management, reliable losses and risk analyses are necessary. However, knowledge about damaging processes and robust assessments of flood losses in the Mekong delta are scarce. In order to fill this gap, we identify and quantify the effects of the most important variables determining flood losses in Can Tho city through multi-variate statistical analyses. Our analysis is limited to the losses of residential buildings and contents. Results reveal that under the specific flooding characteristics in the Mekong delta with relatively well-adapted households, long inundation durations and shallow water depths, inundation duration is more important than water depth for the resulting loss. However, also building and content values, floor space of buildings and building quality are important loss-determining variables. Human activities like undertaking precautionary measures also influence flood losses. The results are important for improving flood loss modelling and, consequently, flood risk assessments in the Mekong delta.

Structuring Climate Adaptation through Multiple Perspectives: Framework and Case Study on Flood Risk Management

“…These are all the factors that trigger the households to implement household measures [55,81,83,87,90,91]. In spite of having a high level of preparedness: (i) the damages due to flooding in households is high in Can Tho, sometimes becoming intolerable by exceeding several months of income; and (ii) the losses due to disruption of business are higher than the loss due to the physical damage in small business establishments [91].…”

Flood Loss Models and Risk Analysis for Private Households in Can Tho City, Vietnam

“…Similarly, the contents damage refers to all items stored in the house, including furniture, home appliances, vehicles and electric items that were damaged by the flood. Detailed descriptions of the survey and the data processing were provided in Chinh et al [23,24]. The important factors influencing residential flood loss in Can Tho have been analyzed and revealed to be: inundation duration, water depth, building value (or content value), floor space of the building, income and socio-economic status of the household.…”

“…The development of flood loss models for residential buildings in Can Tho City is based on the empirical dataset that has been compiled from interview results [23,24] after the flood event of 2011. We use 858 damage cases (both houses with exclusive residential use and houses with small business) to develop flood loss models for residential buildings, and contents.…”

Water Quality Dynamics of Urban Water Bodies during Flooding in Can Tho City, Vietnam

“…The city has been facing typical urban issues (e.g., flooding and water pollution) during the past, which are likely to continue and increase in the future [18,19]. About 10%-15% of the actual built up areas encroaches upon streams and canals, and, as consequence, 70%-75% of the households in Can Tho suffer from the impacts of flooding [18,20,21]. In addition, adverse impacts of flooding in the future is anticipated in Can Tho due to climate change induced sea-level rise, increase of flow in the Mekong and local rainfall increase.…”