Project Summary:

The Government of Vietnam and its development partners recognize that speedy and effective response can save lives and help communities bounce back after disasters. They have been proactive in collecting data and information to better prepare for relief and response activities. However, recent experience in disaster response has highlighted a great challenge in ensuring quality and effective use of collected disaster data to support timely relief and response planning.

Disaster Response Management is one of the areas where the UN can truly excel as One, acting together to use expertise of the UN Agencies in Viet Nam to bring about timely life-saving assistance.  The UN in Viet Nam carried out two large-scale responses under the Central Emergency Response Fund from 2016 to 2018, which saw us working closely with Government, NGOs and Viet Nam Red Cross partners to reach more than half a million beneficiaries.

Following response efforts, the UN Disaster Management Response Team (DRMT) looked back to examine what innovations are needed in how the response was carried out.

Project Objectives:

The Data Layering for Disaster Preparedness project aimed to develop prototype tools to better link baseline data on vulnerability and potential risks to improve preparedness, response and recovery activities.

Expected Results:

It is expected that the project will develop innovative tools that could reduce the crucial gap between the time when a storm makes landfall and when high-level officials of Viet Nam Disaster Management Authority have the information they need to make informed decisions about whether to give the green light for action.

Key achievements:

The project produced 04 prototype tools which provide a basis for further development in collaboration with other UN agencies and Vietnam Disaster Management Authority.

• Tool 1, named The Disaster Impact Visualization Tool, is for government and disaster management and response authorities.
• Tool 2, named The Disaster Alert Tool, is for impacted communities. It is an innovative mobile phone Application that is particularly helpful during disaster response phase.
• Tool 3, named The Rapid Damage and Relief Tool, overlays socio-economic data with disaster information to provide a snapshot of affected people preliminary needs
• Tool 4, named The Relief Tracking Tool, is for the use of relief providers.