The MoU was signed by General Director of the Vietnam Meteorological and Hydrological Administration (VNMHA), under the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, Tran Hong Thai and WMO Assistant Secretary-General of Wenjian Zhang.

The MoU aims to mitigate natural disaster risks caused by flash floods and landslides for Vietnam in particular and Southeast Asia in general, thus promoting socio-economic development for the sustainable development, peace and prosperity of the region. 

Vietnam officially launched the SEAFFGS on June 28 and assumed the role of being a Regional Center in forecasting landslides and flash floods.

The SEAFFGS is part of the WMO's global flash flood guidance system, which creates a connection and cooperation between the regional center for supporting flash flood warnings in Southeast Asia and those across the world.

The system integrates many different data sources from satellites, radars, and automatic and topographic measurement stations to support forecasters with effective flash flood and landslide warning information.

As the Regional Center for supporting flash flood warnings in Southeast Asia, Vietnam will manage two servers at VNMHA, which provide and exchange data and information with hydro-meteorological centers in Southeast Asia.

In addition, the nation will coordinate with member countries of SEAFFGS in exploiting and using products of the flash flood warning system in Southeast Asia to improve the forecasting and warning capacity of flash floods and landslides.

Source: VGP