Calls mount for a flood warning system in Laos
Ekaphone Phouthonesy and Paritta Wangkiat
26 February 2024 at 9:26
VIENTIANE, LAOS – With international support, Laos has started to develop an effective early warning system to prevent losses caused by floods and disasters. People’s access to water data is crucial to making the systems work.
In August last year, businesswoman Kongdeuan Boutavong saw her small amusement park partially flooded after an unexpected rise in water levels in the Mekong River.
Her equipment – ranging from a colorful inflatable slider to a mini-Ferris wheel and small trains sporting the heads of animals – were submerged for several days.
“When I saw that the flood was inevitable, I instructed my workers to move the equipment. But unfortunately, we could not move it all before the water suddenly flooded the site,” she recalled. “It cost me more than 20 million kip [about US$1,000] to cover the damage.”
A post from local news shows water from the Mekong River inundating the amusement park
run by businesswoman Kongdeuan Boutavong on August 9, 2023. Source: The Next Media
Located opposite the landmark Chao Anouvong Park in Laos’ capital Vientiane, her small amusement park has welcomed residents and tourists, who come to enjoy the fresh air by the riverside.
“The Mekong riverside is the most scenic part of Vientiane. People love to walk along the riverbank in the evenings and this was a good business opportunity for me,” said the 33-year-old Kongdeuan, who inherited the business from her family.
Her amusement park has a locational advantage. But the increasingly unpredictable river has added a risk that her business had never faced before. Her experience in the recent flood also keeps her awake at night and watching the river whenever there has been heavy rain.
“What I need most is an effective and accurate flood warning system,” she said. “With information that is easy to use and understand, I would know when a flood would be coming, and I would be able to avoid the losses.”
The province of Vientiane was severely affected by widespread flooding and landslides triggered by heavy rainfall during last year’s monsoon season.
The Lao government reported on August 21 that more than 22,000 families – totaling about 110,120 individuals – in 50 districts and villages across the country were affected by the flood, with six recorded deaths.
A joint report from the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank highlighted the fact that increasing urbanization, economic development and climate change were likely to amplify the number of people affected by floods and the volume of economic losses in Laos.
According to the same report, climate change alone was expected to increase the country’s affected population by 40,000 and the damages to $295 million by 2030, in the absence of climate policies, in the worst-case scenario.
A live video recorded the flash flood that damaged houses in Ban Noi village in Hinboun district,
Khammouan province, on August 3, 2023. Source: ຈົດໝາຍຂ່າວ Message
Recognizing the urgent need to help people cope with floods, government and non-governmental organizations have stepped up their efforts to develop early warning and disaster forecast systems.
In July last year, the Mekong River Commission (MRC) launched a channel on Mekong Flood and Drought Forecasts on YouTube and Facebook, providing updates on water levels, flows and forecast flood and drought risks. The channel broadcasts in English with subtitles in Mekong country languages.
Anoulak Kittikhoun, the CEO of the MRC Secretariat, said in a press release that the forecasts aim to support member countries in managing risks and he hoped the new channel would reach the millions of people living along the Mekong River.
The MRC is an intergovernmental agency formed under the 1995 Mekong Agreement, with Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam as members. It aims to facilitate the collaborative management of the river.
A video broadcast of forecasts on the Mekong River Commission’s channel on Mekong Flood
and Drought Forecasts on October 23, 2023. Source: Mekong River Commission
Despite the ongoing development of early warning systems, there is more work to be done to bridge the communication gap between the national and community levels.
Some initiatives have been launched to close this gap, including a series of training sessions on community-based disaster risk management backed by the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction and the World Food Programme. The project covered 15 villages in Nhot-Ou and Phongsaly districts with 782 beneficiaries.
Another project in 2019, supported by the UNDP and the Government of Luxembourg, piloted early warning systems through SMS messages, delivering weather-related information to 200,000 people in targeted provinces. Despite yielding positive outcomes, this pilot has not been adopted at the national level.
In January, the MRC announced it had received a one-year grant of $190,000 from the United Kingdom to develop an MRC Mobile App, which would give the public access to water data and warning messages. Work on developing the app started in 2022, with support from Japan.
The accessibility of data, coupled with the delivery of easy-to-understand messages, is crucial for local people, especially for women and marginalized communities who often suffer the most during floods.
Mekong hydrology specialist Brian Eyler, also the Energy, Water, Sustainability Programme Director and Southeast Asia Programme Director at the Stimson Centre, noted that those most affected tended to be cash-poor and reliant on food and water derived from the river for their livelihoods.
“Often, the farmers tending their riverbank crops and the vendors selling their goods are women – and women fish too – so women in local communities can be severely affected by rapid changes in the river level,” he said.
Due to limited access to early warning tools, amusement park owner Kongdeuan has turned to Facebook for crowdsource flood-warning information. However, that information has not always been reliable.
“Unpredictable floods make my life more difficult. My business has become risky due to the floods,” she said, adding that reliable predictions about the Mekong River’s flow would help her business flourish.
This story was adapted from a Vientiane Times’ article, which was supported by the Internews’ Earth Journalism Network through a project named Reporting on Mekong Water Governance from a Gender and Social Inclusion Lens.
Ekaphone Phouthonesy is a Laos-based journalist at Vientiane Times. 
More by Ekaphone Phouthonesy
Paritta Wangkiat is Mekong Eye's editor. 
More by Paritta Wangkiat
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