Institutional structures underpinning flood management in Vietnam

Whilst there are a large number of legal documents pertaining to natural disaster management, they are fragmented, overlapping and repetitive. In addition, lack of training and insufficient technical and financial support at local levels exacerbates the problems. Recommendations are made to strengthen institutional support to economic sectors and individuals who are victims of extreme flood events. These include: a shift from the current 'top-down' approach to include a 'bottom-up' approach; encouragement of transparency and accountability; decentralisation of the allocation of both technical and financial resources to improve training, particularly at the local levels and; to investigate the merits of introducing insurance schemes.