Regional Program for Investigation and Strengthening of Vulnerable Flood Protection Dikes in South and Southeast Asian countries (REG-PRO-DIKES), implemented by ADPC in partnership with Norwegian Geo-technical Institute (NGI), organized its 3rd Regional Meeting during 22-23 October 2014, in Hanoi, Vietnam. REG-PRO-DIKES program is being funded by the Royal Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and participating countries of the program are Bangladesh, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam.

Participants from the involved countries attended the workshop and discussed the problems associated with routine investigations of weaker areas of dike systems and the challenges faced when repairing them. Some of the countries have built river and sea dyke systems for Flood protection centuries ago and today they play a very important role in flood defence avoiding catastrophic water related disasters.

Unfortunately, many of these flood protection dikes are currently in bad shape, often leading to both overtopping and breach during the monsoon periods. The countries in the region face almost the same challenges/problems in maintenance as the length of river dyke and sea dyke systems in the participating countries are several thousand kilometres. The NGI experts have demonstrated ways of reducing the risks by using innovative technology to identify weak spots in dikes and other water protection structures during the field work session.

The participants had the opportunity to learn new techniques and to discuss the advantages of utilizing non-destructive GPR technology. This same technology is used in Norway and other more advanced countries for detecting weak areas in dyke systems as well as in landslide and subsidence studies. The inaugural ceremony of the meeting was attended by: HE Siren Gjerme Eriksen, Ambassador of the Royal Norwegian Government to Vietnam; Dr. Oddvar Kjekstad, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Royal Norwegian Government; Dr. Tran Binh Trong, Vice Director of the Scientific and Technology Department, Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MONRE); Dr. Trinh Hai Son, Vice Director of the Vietnam Institute of Geosciences and Mineral Resources (VIGMR); Dr. Rajinder Kumar Bhasin, Regional Manager Asia, Norwegian Geotechnical Institute, and Mr. N.M.S.I Arambepola, Director ADPC.