Small dams: A big cause for concern in Vietnam

Vietnam has one of the largest dam systems in the world along with China and the US. Across Vietnam there is currently no national dam safety program or an overall strategy for the safe management of dams, particularly small ones. The safety of small dams and responsibility and accountability for their management in Vietnam are matters of great concern. However, the degree and scope of the safety issues are unexplored because little information has been recorded and reported publicly. There has been no systematic collection of data on dam failures and there have been no specific approaches to determine associated impacts or economic losses of failure. Many dam safety problems and notable dam failures have occurred in various provinces in Vietnam but have often been unreported. An extensive set of photos were taken and stored separately for each individual dam.