Viet Nam: Emergency Rehabilitation of Calamity Damage Project

Viet Nam is one of the most disaster-prone areas in the world. Its river systems, during heavy rainfall, easily produce short-duration but extensive flooding that frequently occurs without warning. For instance, the storms and typhoons that hit the country in 2005 caused extensive damage and loss of lives in 16 provinces. Damage to rural infrastructure, sea dikes, and embankments ran up to a combined value of about $1 billion. In the 10 most seriously affected provinces, many types of infrastructure essential to the livelihoods of poor rural households were wrecked, thus depriving them of economic opportunities and reducing their access to markets, schools, services, and clean water.

While emergency rehabilitation funds were made available, repair works undertaken were wanting in quality to provide improved disaster resistance or to spur economic development in the affected provinces. In this context, the government asked the Asian Development Bank (ADB) for emergency assistance to fund the rehabilitation and reconstruction of basic rural infrastructure, and the implementation of risk reduction measures to reduce vulnerability in the affected provinces.

This report validates the completion report’s assessment of the project, which aimed for rapid resumption of livelihoods and reduced vulnerability to natural disasters in the affected areas of Viet Nam. IED overall assessment: Successful.