Early Warning Systems for Flash Floods and Debris Flows in Vietnam: A Review

Abstract

Flash floods and debris flows are major types of natural disasters causing loss of life and damaging property in mountainous regions. To mitigate the risks due to flash flood and debris flow disasters, the structural and non-structural countermeasures are usually employed. In Vietnam, concerning the non-structural countermeasures, several pilot monitoring and warning systems based on rainfall and river water level have been installed and operated; however, they are only suitable for flooding and flash floods in river basins. While the early warning system (EWS) for debris flows - a popular hazard in the upstream of catchments in mountainous regions, have not been studied and applied in Vietnam. This paper aims at reviewing several solutions for debris flow and flash flood EWS and then finding suitable solutions for mountainous regions in Vietnam. In this regards, the paper is consisted of two main parts: firstly, a review of issues related with the monitoring and warning systems for both flash floods and debris flows is presented and, secondly, suitable preliminary solutions for a stream in mountainous regions of Vietnam are proposed.