The Socialist Republic of Vietnam is situated in South East Asia. It spans a total area of 329.560 sq. km sharing its borders with Laos and Cambodia in the west and China in the north. Being in the tropical region it enjoys an abundance of water resources. Vietnam is basically an agrarian economy relying on its rivers. Therefore most of the settlements are found along the rivers, the Red river in the north and the Mekong river in the south. Formerly a French colony for 70 years Vietnam finally gained independence in 1954.

Because of its topography Vietnam is most susceptible to typhoons, floods, storms, salinity intrusion. With environmental degradation droughts and forest fires have also become a regular occurrence. Uneven distribution of rainfall is one of the main causes for the flooding of rivers. Situated close to the typhoon center of the South China Sea, Vietnam is very vulnerable to typhoons. On an average it is hit by 4 to 6 typhoons per year. The worst of these water disasters are caused by typhoons that raise sea levels and send storm surges up estuaries to inundate valuable croplands.

For more information about Vietnam:
http://www.undp.org.vn/dmu/background/en/frame.htm
http://www.undp.org.vn/dmu/index.html

For disaster updates:
http://www.undp.org.vn/dmu/latest/en/frame.htm
http://www.adrc.or.jp/nations/nationinformation.asp?NationCode=704&Lang=en

Socio-Economic information:

http://www.odci.gov/cia/publications/factbook/vm.html

For Online Documents:
http://www.undp.org.vn/undp/lib/pubs.htm
http://www.undp.org.vn/themes/disaster/index.htm
OCHA Situational Report - Floods Information