Taiwan-Vietnam Cooperation in Debris Flow Monitoring Opens a New Era of Sediment Disaster Prevention in New Southbound Countries - Agency of Rural Development and Soil and Water Conservation, MOA

The Soil and Water Conservation Bureau (SWCB) of Taiwan assisted Vietnam in building a debris flow monitoring station, setting a new diplomatic milestone for disaster prevention under New Southbound policy. On November 21, 2019, Director General Chen-yang Lee of SWCB, Director of the Vietnam Disaster Management Authority, Deputy Director of the Vietnam Institute of Geosciences and Mineral Resources, and the Chief of Lao Cai Province of Vietnam witnessed the opening ceremony of the debris flow monitoring station held in Sapa District of Lao Cai Province, Vietnam. 

Due to climate change, many countries have suffered a wide variety of complex natural disasters in recent years. Therefore, cross-border exchanges and cooperation in disaster prevention are very important. SWCB is dedicated to promoting international exchanges and cooperation in disaster prevention technologies and to sharing experiences with other countries in recent years. This international cooperation with Vietnam Institute of Geosciences and Mineral Resources began on December 22, 2017 through the signing of the memorandum of understanding (MoU) on the issues of geological disasters and early warning mechanism of debris flow. In order to help Vietnam face the impact of debris flow disasters in any future extreme climate, Taiwan and Vietnam set up a plan to jointly build a debris flow monitoring station in Sapa District of Lao Cai Province in this year (2019).  

The natural disasters suffered by Vietnam are mainly flood disasters in the central and southern regions and debris flow, landslides, and other disasters in the northern region. Taiwan faced the same problems in the past. Through the continuous research and development of various disaster prevention technologies by SWCB along with the active promotion of systems such as debris flow disaster resilient communities and debris flow volunteer specialists, the objectives of slopeland disaster prevention, mitigation, and avoidance are achieved through the integration of software and hardware countermeasures such as disaster early warning technology and refuge mechanism. In the future, it is hoped that Taiwan will provide debris flow disaster prevention monitoring technology and monitoring data analysis methods to continuously conduct sediment disaster research with Vietnam. It is also hoped that the cooperation of disaster prevention technology can be expanded to promote win-win and mutual benefits between the two countries.

Director General Lee of SWCB stated that, with the launch of Vietnam debris flow monitoring station, the achievements of SWCB in debris flow prevention and mitigation technology have been internationally recognized. It is hoped that SWCB continues to assist other countries, improve slopeland disaster monitoring technology and emergency response capability, and promote this concept and technology through international cooperation to enhance Taiwan’s international reputation.