Storm Surge Risk In Vietnam And China

Project Overview

Central Vietnam is one of the most strongly affected areas to suffer frequent and damaging typhoons. Strong typhoons associated with large storm surges can cause evacuation of hundreds of thousands of people, a considerable number of deaths and can significantly damage infrastructure in coastal regions. However, typhoons also leave behind geological and geomorphic evidence of their landfall, which we can use to identify past events. We will use a new technique to investigate multiple storm deposits at beaches of Hue and Danang – two big cities in Central Vietnam - to figure out the characteristics of areas inundated by typhoons. Firstly, we will use a number of hydrodynamic models (a storm surge model or coastal inundation model) to calculate how high storm surges are likely to be and how far they will go inland. Secondly, we will combine the model with geological records created by two strong typhoons happening recently: Xangsane (2006) and Ketsana (2009). Based on that, we can reconstruct inundation characteristics of the study area from past events and identify the recurrence of such typhoons. Most importantly, we want to quantify and communicate the vulnerability of the Vietnamese coast to the catastrophic events with the goal of reducing risks to society from storm surges.