Studying flood risk and social resilience at city level by socio-hydrological approach in Can Tho City of Vietnam

Abstract

Socio-hydrological approach is a new science that is aimed at understanding the dynamics and co-evolution of coupled human-water systems. We use this concept to analyze how flood risk related to social resilience in Can Tho city, one of the biggest urban area located in the Vietnamese Mekong delta. The study employed both secondary and primary data collected in two inner districts of Ninh Kieu and Cai Rang. Key informant interview with related stakeholders and focus group discussion with local community were conducted in the reserach sites. The results showed that urban flood tends to rise up year by year because of various drivers such as increase of rainfall in a short time combined with the blockage of sewers due to garbage or/and lack of green areas. In term of hydrological aspect, rainfall, river water level and discharge are key factors. In addition, the social drivers like ineffective urban planning and inappropriate human behaviour also play an important role causing serious inundation. We also found that flood risk contributes to reduce social resilience by different ways including infrastructure damages, transportation disruption, livelihood decline, social network discontinuance, landscape degradation, environmental poluttion, human health and fatality. Therefore, it is necessary to take into account both social and hydrological drivers to mitigate the flood risk on one hand and enhance social resilience on the other. Green urban development which has the greatest potential for improving the quality of ecosystem services and providing opportunities for urban dwellers to reconnect with nature should be a good strategy for disaster risk reduction in this situation.