Abstract
Densely populated megadelta regions such as the Mekong Delta are exposed to great risk due to flooding from the sea under climate change. However, many previous flood simulation studies have not explicitly considered sea level rise. Here, we aimed to assess the impact of sea level rise to the damage due to extreme floods in the Mekong Basin using a global river routing model and risk assessment approach. Using the flood event in 2000 as a case study, we estimated that the amount of damage would increase by 4 to 21 % for sea level rises of 0.5 m and 2.0 m, respectively. This increase would mainly affect the socioeconomic aspect of the Mekong Delta due to high concentration of assets and large increase of inundation depth.
