Pacific Disaster Center Opens Hanoi Office

PDC Updates | Jun 5, 2008

In Hanoi, on May 19, 2008, the collaboration between Pacific Disaster Center and the Government of Vietnam entered a new phase with the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between Vietnam’s Water Resources University and PDC/University of Hawaii.

PDC/University of Hawaii signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Vietnam’s Water Resources University (WRU) on May 19 to launch what both parties see as a new level of collaboration in the country’s effort to expand and enhance disaster management practices. On the same day, PDC’s new office, located on WRU’s Hanoi Campus, was opened. PDC has been seriously engaged with the Government of Vietnam, supporting disaster management officials, since 2004. An illustrated profile of PDC’s work in cooperation with Vietnam is maintained on the Center’s website.

A PDC-VAST MoU (below) signed in April, coupled with the series of meetings and site visits accomplished in May, and the additional MoU with WRU effectively laid the groundwork for the next several years of PDC-Vietnam cooperation.

Memorandum of Understanding with VAST Signed at PDC

On Monday, April 28, PDC hosted several high-level visitors from Vietnam. The visitors included Professor Nguyen Khoa Son, Vice President of VAST; Deputy Director Mr. Nguyen Gia Lap, International Cooperation Department of the Vietnamese Academy of Science and Technology (VAST); and Mrs. Luu Nam Phuong, an officer with Vietnam’s Department of International Cooperation, Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST). During the visit, a Memorandum of Understanding between PDC and VAST was signed by Prof. Son and PDC Executive Director Ray Shirkhodai. The MoU was in turn signed by University of Hawaii Vice President of IT and CIO David Lassner on behalf of UH.

After the PDC-VAST MoU was signed, the principals exchanged commemorative gifts and gathered in the lobby of Pacific Disaster Center for this photo. Left to right, they are Mrs. Luu Nam Phuong of the Department of International Cooperation, MOST, Deputy Director Mr. Nguyen Gia Lap of the International Cooperation Department of VAST, PDC Chief Scientist Stan Goosby, PDC Executive Director Ray Shirkhodai, PDC Program and Business Development Officer Ted Sheppard, VAST Vice President Professor Nguyen Khoa Son, PDC Director of Administration and Finance Scott Okada and PDC Chief Information Officer Chris Chiesa.

Visit to Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology (VAST)

On May 19, as a follow-up to the PDC-VAST MoU signing, PDC Executive Director Ray Shirkhodai and Chief Information Officer Chris Chiesa, along with University of Hawaii Vice President of Information Technology and Chief Information Officer David Lassner traveled to Vietnam to meet with representatives of VAST including Deputy Director Nguyen Gia Lap, International Cooperation Department, and directors and senior representatives from four of the 30 or more institutes within VAST. They included:

Director Dr. Bui Cong Que, Institute of Geophysics, who described plans to develop, deploy and operate a seismic and tsunami warning system for Vietnam. He expressed a strong desire to collaborate with PDC on this effort.
Deputy Director Dr. Doan Minh Chung, Space Technology Institute, a newly established institute interested in student and faculty exchanges with PDC and UH, supporting development of space technology curriculum and programs, and ultimately supporting Vietnam’s 2020 goal of becoming a space nation.
Director Dr. Tran Trong Hue, Institute of Geological Sciences, who described activities and desired collaborations with PDC in the areas of flash flooding, debris flow and associated landslides, and active faults.
Vu Cao Minh, a senior representative of the Institute of Marine Geology and Geophysics, with active programs in impacts of sea level rise on coastal resources and infrastructure, and earthquake and tsunami warning and risk assessment.

Additional meetings will take place over time to refine coordination with the institutes within VAST that are able to provide support for the PDC-Vietnam collaboration to enhance disaster management in the country.

Memorandum of Understanding with Water Resources University

PDC's Chris Chiesa and Ray Shirkhodai at the opening of the PDC Hanoi Project Office on the campus of Vietnam's Water Resources University.

An MoU Signing and PDC Hanoi Project Office Opening Ceremony was co-organized by PDC and WRU. The May 19 event was attended by over 40 representatives of Vietnam’s Ministry of Agricultural and Rural Development (MARD), VAST, and WRU, as well as representatives of the U.S. Embassy, USAID, USTDA and The World Bank. PDC strategic partner, ESRI, was represented by the general director of their newly opened Vietnam office. PDC Executive Director Ray Shirkhodai and UH Vice President of IT David Lassner provided opening remarks along with WRU Rector Dr. Nguyen Quang Kim. PDC Chief Information Officer Chris Chiesa provided a presentation detailing PDC’s recent and planned activities in Vietnam. WRU’s Ms. Pham Hong Nga provided an overview of current WRU activities and programs at their Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City campuses, as well as planned expansions of the Hanoi Campus.

WRU, it should be noted, has over 10,000 students at its various campuses.

Next, the group moved to the office space provided by WRU to support planned PDC activities in Vietnam under USTDA and World Bank funding, for which the proposals are under active review. The spacious office was equipped with office furnishings as well as phones and fax to support on-going activities of three to five staff and meetings of larger groups.

A celebration dinner was hosted by PDC for distinguished Vietnamese and international guests, including representatives of WRU, MARD, the U.S Government and the office of The World Bank/AusAID Technical Assistance for Natural Disaster Risk Management Program.

After Signing the MoU with WRU

Center for Management and Mitigation of Natural Disasters:

PDC's Chief Information Officer Chris Chiesa and Director Phan Van On of CMMND in Danang, Quan Ngai Province.

Chiesa was hosted on May 21 by Director Phan Van On of the Center for Management and Mitigation of Natural Disasters (CMMND) in Quan Ngai Province. The Center, recently developed under funding from the Australian Government’s overseas aid program, AusAID, is now operational and houses the provincial flood management committee as well as providing early warnings to citizens in the province, especially its fishing fleets, during storm and flood events. CMMND has a permanent staff of three and surges to 12 or more during disaster events. It has computer and communications capabilities, as well as backup power, food and water for one week of operations.

Chiesa provided an overview of PDC and its programs in the region and in Vietnam, including the flood early warning capacity-development program recently proposed to USTDA. That proposed program seeks to demonstrate national to regional and provincial information flows and linkages for eventual deployment of a national system covering all of Vietnam. Therefore, having a strong and capable provincial partner is one key to success.

Director Phan Van On has agreed that CMMND will be a participant in PDC’s program for central Vietnam, should the USTDA proposal be funded.

WRU Ho Chi Minh City Campus:

Chiesa visited WRU’s “Second Base” in Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) on May 22, meeting with Vice Director Dr. Nguyen Dang Tinh and his senior colleagues. The campus is primarily a teaching institution with limited research and laboratory facilities.

WRU-HCMC does, however, undertake special projects and studies, and has recently completed a flood control assessment project in the Mekong Delta. This led to a discussion of the activities of the Vietnamese government in the wake of Tropical Cyclone Nargis, which struck Burma’s Irrawaddy Delta on May 2, 2008, killing tens of thousands. It became important to understand the ramifications of a similar typhoon striking the Vietnam’s Mekong Delta. (In 1997, Typhoon Linda skirted the southern tip of Vietnam and its Mekong Delta killing more than 3,600, and affecting more than a million people. A direct hit, such as that of Tropical Cyclone Nargis on Burma [Myanmar] has the potential to cause significantly higher loss of life and impact development and infrastructure in the Mekong Delta and surrounding areas.)

The possibility of a devastating typhoon in Vietnam is looked at in combination with the likely impacts of global climate change and sea-level rise. There is interest in collaborating with PDC on a small study to illustrate the issues facing the 15 million people living in the Mekong Delta and the more than eight million living in nearby HCMC.

Further discussions of collaboration with the HCMC campus on the projects envisioned will take place in the near future.

Institute for Economic Research:

Chiesa met with Dr. Le Van Thanh, deputy head of the Institute for Economic Research (IER), Department of Urban Development Studies, on May 22. IER is responsible for reviewing studies and providing policy guidance on socio-economic issues in HCMC and southern Vietnam, including those related to urban flooding, climate change impacts, migration, etc. As such, the Institute would be an interested stakeholder and participant in the typhoon-impact study noted above.

Dr. Thanh will be participating in an upcoming Pacific Disaster Center–East-West Center conference, “Urban Asia: Challenges of Transition and Governance,” later this summer. Follow-up discussions are planned to coincide with Dr. Thanh’s trip to Hawaii for that conference.

Web accessible stories of related interest

PDC participated in an APEC Dialogue in Vietnam, April 24–25, 2008.

PDC presented an International Workshop on “Best practices” in Disaster Management in Vietnam, November 2007.

Two powerful typhoons made landfall in Southeast Asia in November 2007.

Typhoon Lekima severely damaged central Vietnam in October 2007.