Flood hazard and flood risk model for Yangon has been completed in October 2019 to assist Yangon City Development Committee (YCDC) to prepare measures to make Yangon more resilient into Climate Adaptation. Funded by the Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO), a 7-month project of consortium partners led by Royal Haskoning DHV, HKV consultants, Water Bridge Myanmar and Joy Brothers Engineering had been initiated in April 2019 to prepare a Flood Hazard Model for Yangon City to assess changes in flood hazards a result of future urbanization and climate change and to identify the impact of possible flood mitigation measures in order to reduce the flood risk in Yangon City.
Project Deliverables
The project was involved in data collection and management, prepared a Flood Hazard Model (FHM) for Yangon City and implemented capacity building programs and stakeholder and technical workshops facilitated by both Myanmar and the Dutch water experts.
“It is difficult to get rid of water blocking on the road and drainage in some places, especially in downtown during rainfall and high tide and flood risk reduction measures will need to be identified. The model can be used to assess the potential impact of such measures” was stated by Mr. Alex Hooijer, the project manager from Royal Haskoning DHV. He added that the problem was complicated because of the discharge from the rivers in Yangon City and the intensive rainfall and the tidal impact.
“Therefore, we have made a Flood Hazard Model which may help to come to a better understanding of the flood situation in Yangon and to decide on actions to improve the drainage system of Yangon” he explained the final outcome of this project.
A Peculiarity among Southeast Asia Countries
“Although there was a lack of data similar, Myanmar has an active government where counterpart staff really actively assisted to improve the data, contribute their knowledge of the drainage system and to digitize maps related to this drainage system,” he shared his experience.
“Within the project we had limited time and budget and therefore only the major drains have been included in the FHM. The model can be improved by surveying the other parts of the drainage system. Once the government has embedded the FHM within the organization, people should not only use the model, but also improve the FHM,” he suggested.
In the long run and recommendation
“It is important to identify a suitable institutional setting with the YCDC to ensure that the FHM will be operated, maintained and improved in order to be used to identify the most appropriate measures to reduce the flood risk in Yangon,” he suggested.
