Housing usually represents the highest losses due to natural disasters (Lyons,
2009). In developing countries, despite national governments and humanitarian
agencies efforts to carry out plenty of recovery actions, most affected households
still receive limited assistance (Suarez et al., 2008). In Vietnam, the government
considers housing as one of the four most vulnerable sectors to climate extremes
(MONRE, 2008) of which typhoons exhibit the greatest impact to housing
in comparison to other climate hazards (Nhu et al., 2011). Recognized by the
International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), two
of the four most dangerous natural hazards in the South East Asia are floods
and typhoons in Vietnam (two others are tornado and flood-tide in East Timor)
(IFRC, 2010). Floods and typhoons have frequently occurred in Philippines
and Indonesia, but risk levels in these two countries are medium whereas higher
levels of risk exist in Vietnam (IFRC, 2010) due to low levels of preparedness of
Vietnamese vulnerable communities. In Vietnam, there has been a significant
escalation in number of strong typhoons in recent years which makes it difficult
to forecast their frequencies, their severity and their direction (MONRE, 2008).
An estimated 80-90% of Vietnam’s population is significantly affected by this
kind of disaster (Vietnam-Government, 2007) where Central Vietnam is considered
the most disaster-prone region of the country (Phong and Tinh, 2010).