![\"\"](\"https:\/\/varsity.com.cuhk.edu.hk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/6-1024x768.jpg\")
(Photo courtesy of Nguyen Thi Mai Anh)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Nguyen has raised the floor of her living room and installed a small barrier at the entrance to combat flooding. During heavy rain, she moves electrical appliances and furniture onto higher shelves and stays up late to monitor the water level. Electricity is often cut for safety reasons during floods, especially in older residential areas like hers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cPower outages sometimes last for hours, leaving us without lights and internet. The repeated flooding has increased our maintenance costs and disrupted my business. My children have to do their homework in the dark, and it\u2019s very hot,\u201d Nguyen says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWithout electricity, the refrigerator stops working and fresh food spoils quickly in the heat. Cooking also becomes difficult because we can\u2019t use electric stoves or rice cookers, and floodwater often reaches the gas burners on the floor,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When flooding hits,electronic payment systems stop working. Nguyen says she has almost no customers, even if there were, they could not pay because of that. \u201cIf this keeps happening, I don\u2019t know how long we can stay,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As the city sinks by several centimetres a year and sea levels are projected to rise by 50cm by 2070, flood risk will increase in the coming decades, according to the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Construction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Vietnamese authorities have introduced a range of policies to address the problem, including restrictions on groundwater extraction, expanded use of surface water supplies, and building tidal gates, embankments and upgrading drainage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Though measures are in place, environmental specialist Le Thi Thu Nguyen at the World Bank\u2019s Vietnam office says implementation varies widely across districts, particularly between central areas and rapidly urbanising outskirts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cPolicies are here. But the progress of execution on the ground can be very different. There is still a gap between policy intentions and what residents experience,\u201d Le says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cTechnical solutions are available. What we need is stronger coordination between departments and long-term commitment. Subsidence is not a problem that can be solved in one or two years. It requires sustained investment and clear accountability,\u201d she adds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ho Chi Minh urban planners say the city may learn from Tokyo, where subsidence has been slowed after groundwater extraction was tightly controlled and surface water systems were expanded in 2020, according to the Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES).<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/varsity.com.cuhk.edu.hk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Adjusted_3.jpg\")