Tropical Cyclones and Storm Surges in Southern Vietnam

Hiroshi Takagi*, Nguyen Danh Thao, Miguel Esteban

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingChapter

31 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Vietnam has a long coastline and thus is highly susceptible to coastal disasters. The southern part of Vietnam has generally been perceived to be less vulnerable to typhoons or storm surges compared to the northern and central parts of the country. However, according to an analysis of tropical cyclone tracks, it appears that a substantial number of typhoons have approached southern Vietnam in the past, though the chance of occurrence is substantially smaller than along the northern or central coasts. Nevertheless, tropical cyclones in lower latitudes can sustain intensities similar to those in higher latitudes. Thus, tropical cyclones on the southern coast should not be underestimated when planning disaster risk reduction measures. In terms of climate change, historical tropical cyclone tracks do not provide any definitive conclusions regarding the separation of climate change influences from natural variability. The randomness inherent in natural variability can be considered to be more important than climate change from the point of view of disaster risk management. The authors also simulated past tropical cyclones approaching southern Vietnam and estimated that the highest water elevation due to storm surges in the past six decades was approximately 1. m.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationCoastal Disasters and Climate Change in Vietnam
Subtitle of host publicationEngineering and Planning Perspectives
PublisherElsevier Inc.
Pages3-16
Number of pages14
ISBN (Electronic)9780128004791
ISBN (Print)9780128000076
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2014 Jun 4
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Disaster preparedness
  • Disaster risk
  • Mekong Delta
  • Southern Vietnam
  • Storm surge
  • Tropical cyclone
  • Typhoon

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General Environmental Science

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