
Viet Nam is a country with an extensive coastline that stretches for nearly 3,000 km. Majority of cities and urban centers in Viet Nam are located along the coast or rivers. They are facing many challenges and highly vulnerable, due to climate induced natural hazards (typhoons, storms surge, floods, salinity intrusion and sea level rise) and anthropogenic factors such as rapid unplanned urbanization & aging civic infrastructure.
Hence, Early Warning and Early Action are critical when building urban resilience in the cities/ urban centers. Understanding risks, identifying hot spots, increasing preparedness and response capacities, and strengthening the social, ecological and technological systems will contribute to sustainable risk management for the future.
A National Urban Forum with the theme “Building Urban Resilience through Early Warning and Early Action” was organized in coincidence with the International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction (IDDRR) on 13 October 2022 by Asian Disaster Preparedness Center (ADPC) in partnership with the Viet Nam Disaster Management Authority (VDDMA).
The forum provided useful insights on the best practices of multi-hazard early warning systems in the urban contexts and the utilization of disaster risk information for enhancing urban resilience. In addition, knowledge on Resilient Infrastructure, Health Emergency Disaster Risk Management Framework (HEDRM) and Water, Sanitation, & Hygiene (WASH) applicable to urban environments were also disseminated.
Mr. Nguyen Van Tien, Deputy Director General of the VNDMA commenced the National Forum by delivering welcome remarks. Dr. Senaka Basnayake, Director (Climate and Urban Resilience) of the Asian Disaster Preparedness Center (ADPC), delivering the keynote speech stressed the importance of having effective impact-based early warning systems with the aim of minimizing disaster losses.


The Panel discussion on the theme consisted of five panelists representing VNDMA, National Center for Hydrometeorological Forecasting, Technical Infrastructure Agency, National Institute of Nutrition, Viet Nam Academy of Water Resources and the Department of Climate Change.

The forum was attended by around 50 persons representing national-level stakeholders in Hanoi and City level stakeholders in My Tho and Nam Dinh cities.
The recording of the National Forum can be viewed through these links (Part 1) & (Part 2).
Furthermore, a learning camp on Disaster Risk Management was organized on this same day in partnership with the VNDMA, to educate university students on the importance of Disaster Risk Management. The Camp was held at Thui Loi University in Hanoi.
