Digitally-enabled community-based early warning system for landslides and debris flows and integrated risk assessment for Central Vietnam: Utilizing remote sensing technology and evaluating economic damage mitigation measures in Hue City.

Project name: “Digitally-enabled community-based early warning system for landslides and debris flows and integrated risk assessment for Central Vietnam: Utilizing remote sensing technology and evaluating economic damage mitigation measures in Hue City,” funded by the Government of Japan.

Implementation period: 5 years (2026–2030, excluding the project completion/settlement period).

Overall objective: This research establishes a technical platform to mitigate landslide and debris-flow risks for several typical, high-risk areas in Hue City, enabling management agencies, local authorities, and residents to respond more proactively to sediment-related disasters, while enhancing Vietnam’s research and training capacity in geological-hazard disasters through strengthened cooperation.

Specific objectives:

(i) Update existing landslide inventory, landslide susceptibility, and debris-flow hazard maps (at scales of 1: 50,000 and 1: 25,000) for Hue City to supplement the hazard-assessment database, based on detailed surveys and investigations combined with remote-sensing image analysis. Develop large-scale landslide susceptibility maps at 1:5,000 scale for key areas with concentrated populations and high landslide and debris-flow risk;

(ii) Develop a pilot Early Warning System (EWS) for several key areas; digitize the EWS to strengthen the connectivity and transmission of risk information and warnings to local residents; evaluate the economic effectiveness of the EWS;

(iii) Build a dedicated laboratory for landslide assessment; enhance research, training, and technology-transfer capacity for the team of experts in landslide disaster risk assessment; develop guidance documents for mapping and assessing landslide and debris-flow risk using remote-sensing technology.