Resilient buildings: a necessity for Việt Nam (16/11/2024)

Many structures were razed to ground in Quảng Ninh Province during Typhoon Yagi, stressing the need for resilient buildings in Việt Nam. - VNA/VNS Photo

While the transportation sector in Việt Nam is shifting towards greener practices with more electric cars on the road, the building sector is not really on track, according to Ommid Saberi, the global lead for the Building Resilience Index Programme at the International Finance Corporation (IFC).

Ommid Seberi was speaking at the workshop 'Enhancing Resilience for Buildings' on Friday.

He highlighted IFC's definition of resilient buildings, which can withstand the natural disasters and climate hazards they are exposed to, and ideally continue their operations without disruption following a crisis.

He said the Building Resilience Index (BRI) is an IFC innovation that is online and globally available to users free of charge. As of October 2024, users have self-assessed 162 projects, resulting in 9.8 million sq.m of assessed floor space and US$4.3 billion in total assets.

The IFC specialist said BRI stakeholders, including construction developers, banks and occupants, can take advantage of the index in a variety of ways. Developers can use the BRI to assess and improve resilience to site-specific hazards, the second to make informed investment decisions based on risks to buildings, and the third to reduce the risk of losses due to natural and climate hazards.

He also revealed that Việt Nam's local hazard maps have been fully integrated into the BRI app, with 68,000sq.m of gross floor area and 300,000sq.m of seaports under verification.

Professor Tuấn Ngô from the University of Melbourne noted that extreme weather, which costs Australians between $900 million and $4 billion annually, can impact buildings in various ways.

He underlined the role of resilient buildings in reducing costs and increasing community resilience and introduced the Bushfire Resilience Rating Home Self-Assessment app, which is a free community service funded by the Australian Federal Government.

The professor said the purpose of the app is to help improve home resilience to bushfires. A high Resilience Rating means the user's home is more likely to survive a bushfire and be operational within days or weeks.

Trần Phương, a specialist from the Việt Nam Institute for Building Science and Technology, cited Typhoon Yagi as a natural disaster that dealt a heavy blow to northern Việt Nam.

He underlined several types of structures that were heavily damaged by the storm, including high-rise buildings, factories, and column and tower structures.

The specialist recommended measures to mitigate natural disaster damage to buildings, including keeping wind data up to date, organising training programmes on typhoon damage mitigation, and strengthening equipment attached to buildings.