The 5th Annual Mekong Flood Forum,Vietnam - May 17 - 18, 2007
Since 2002, the Mekong Flood Forum has been conducted every year by the Mekong River Commission (MRC).
The forum provides opportunities for managers, planners, practitioners and scientists from riparian states, international organizations,
and civil society organizations to meet and share experiences and information regarding flood issues and identify ways to improve flood
management taking a balanced regional and holistic approach.
On May 17 and 18, 2007, the 5th Annual Mekong Flood Forum was held in Ho Chi Minh City, with the theme of "Improving Inputs Towards
Medium-term Flood Forecasting and Warning in the Mekong Basin" with 132 participants from 17 countries.
The technical advisor of the Regional Flood Management and Mitigation Centre (RFMMC) of MRC, Bob Pengel, reported during the forum on
the Satellite Rainfall Estimate (SRE), which would play an important role in managing the Mekong flood.
"The present models and the flood forecasting models now being developed at RFMMC primarily use observed rainfall data and water level
as inputs. SRE are used as secondary input. The RFMMC will make an inventory of all available data input sources, and evaluate which can be
used in a practical and reliable way. The decision on which data source to use will be made taking into consideration reliability and costs,
but also the accuracy of the data. While satellite rainfall estimates are a reliable source of input data, the accuracy of these data and
especially the forecasts based on SRE is still relatively low. We expect to make more use of SRE in the future, when the accuracy will
certainly improve, and we will look into the benefits of using hybrid observed rainfall-SRE products, which yield a better spatial distribution of
rainfall in areas with sparse rainfall station coverage ."