Climate change and land use mismanagement often when combined result in serious disasters, this is particularly so in high rainfall tropical locations. The most devastating being caused by tropical storms on steep lands resulting in land slides, flooding, infrastructure destruction, loss of life and serious reduction in economic output. Similarly the aftermath of earthquakes often result in unstable and highly erodible slopes that slip and end up as major sediment flows in downstream catchments. The Vetiver System can provide very significant mitigation in the prevention and rehabilitation of such damage, including the stabilization of slip prone slopes, soil erosion control, levee and dike stabilization, river bank stabilization, road and highway stabilization, bridge abutment stabilization, and the stabilization of building sites. The Vetiver System's effectiveness has been proven time and time again including the protection and stabilization of highways in El Salvador against the impact of the 1998 Hurricane Mitch; the protection of a key railway line in Madagascar against annual cyclone damage that previously shut down the railway every year for months on end; the protection of sea dikes in Vietnam against the worst typhoons in 50 years; and the stabilization of highways in China, Malaysia, and Vietnam against slippage due to tropical rainfall events. These and other examples are well documented on this web site. For more information on slope stabilization go to our archives or download the handbooks at the bottom of this page. |
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Vetiver System for Flood Control |
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Disaster Mitigation, Flood and Erosion Control in Haiti |
Short paper by Mike Benge. Senior Agro-Forester |
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Vetiver System for Mitigation of Storm Induced Disasters for The Caribbean Region. This power point was prersented at a recent conference in Jamaica, and shows some of the consequences of Caribbean storms and examples, from other countries that have similar problems, as to how the Vetiver System can reduce the damage. |
THE USE OF VETIVERS IN COASTAL ENGINEERING US Gulf States take note |
A single hedge of Vetiver grass planted on the outer slope of a dike can reduce the wave run-up volume by 55%, in contrary with sod-forming grasses that give no reduction. Planting multiple hedges along the contour of the outer slope might result in even more reduction. The application of Vetiver grass on existing dikes may provide a substantial reinforcement of these dikes. Read more |
US Gulf Region Disater Mitigation |
VETIVER SYSTEM FOR US GULF REGION |
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Vetiver System For Infrastructure Protection and Disaster Mitigation This technical handbook was extracted from "The Vetiver System - A Technical Reference Manual" by Paul Truong, Tran Tan Van and Elise Pinners. Quick download and in full color. |
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Vetiver System for Mitigation of Storm Induced Disasters for The Caribbean Region. This power point was prersented at a recent conference in Jamaica, and shows some of the consequences of Caribbean storms and examples, from other countries that have similar problems, as to how the Vetiver System can reduce the damage. |
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TECHNICAL HANDBOOK Vetiver System For Infrastructure Protection and Disaster Mitigation (html with images). |
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THE VETIVER SYSTEM FOR SLOPE STABILIZATION - AN ENGINEERS HANDBOOK This book describes the problems relating to slope stabilization and the use of VS for disaster mitigation. It has some excellent images and case studies. The nook can be downloaded at no charge or purchased from Amazon.com |
DISASTER MITIGATION |
VETIVER SYSTEM FOR US GULF REGION It is hurricane season again, and we will be reminded once again to do more for coastal and levee protection. The Vetiver System is one tool that can help provide protection in the long term. Here is a revised technical fact sheet to support VS use in the Gulf states. There is a new vetiver grass supplier in Alabama, Charlie and Bonnie Pate; they have also installed vetiver for slope protection. |
