Tsunami awaits to attack the coastal areas of Vietnam

The coastal areas and central central islands from Da Nang to Quang Ngai, the North Central Coast region from Nghe An to Quang Tri, the coastal areas of South Central Vietnam are at risk of tsunamis.

According to documents recently published by the Vietnam Institute of Science and Technology, the above-mentioned regions show a dangerous level of tsunamis with a maximum wave height of 4-6 meters in a 475-year cycle or 950 years. Fortunately, not all coastal areas in Vietnam are at risk of tsunamis and are not equally high risks.

Da Nang came to Quang Ngai to suffer tsunamis

Based on a variety of computational models, researchers from the Institute of Geophysics have proposed many scenarios of tsunami risk situations that threaten coastal and island areas in Vietnam. According to the calculation results, the most dangerous tsunami source in Vietnam coastal area is the earthquake in Manila submergence zone.

Sources of earthquakes and tsunamis in the South China Sea
(Photo by Nguyen Huu taken from the Vietnam Science and Technology Institute's document ).

Earthquakes with a maximum magnitude of 8 on the Richter scale at this fault zone are likely to cause dangerous tsunamis in coastal areas of Vietnam. And earthquakes with maximum magnitude 8.5 or more Richter scale occur in this fault zone can cause tsunamis affecting the entire Vietnam sea area, from Quang Ninh to Ca Mau. The second source of earthquakes potentially endangering the coast of Vietnam is the source area in the North Central Coast region, south of Hainan Island.

However, according to current assessments, the aforementioned strong earthquakes are unlikely to occur . Other studies show that three earthquake-source regions can be identified. Tsunami in the South China Sea. The most dangerous source area is the Manila subduction zone. The two regions are less dangerous than the source zone in the South-South fault zone and the source area in the Ryukyu subduction zone (Japan). The area most likely to be affected by tsunamis is the Central Central region, from Da Nang to Quang Ngai.

Expensive damage

According to these forecasts, scientists from the Institute of Geophysics have developed a map of dangerous tsunamis for the whole country. This map was built from 8 earthquake scenarios that occurred in Manila subduction zone based on the program of calculating the tsunami hazard map written by Vietnam New Zealand Geological and Nuclear Institute experts.

Monitoring tsunami earthquake activity at the Earthquake Reporting Center and tsunami warning under the Institute of Geophysics (Photo: Nhu Y ).

According to the map, Tam Ky and Quang Ngai waters are likely to be affected by huge tsunamis, waves reaching more than 6m high in the 950-year cycle, more than 5m in the 475-year cycle. Also with the above cycles, Danang City wave height is about 5-6m, or 4-5m. The central coastal area from Quang Ngai to Tuy Hoa is about 5-6m high, or 3-4m. From Tuy Hoa to Phan Rang, Phan Thiet, the tsunami effect is reduced, the height is about 2-3m (950 year cycle), about 2m (475 year cycle).

Nha Trang city has been selected to calculate the tsunami risk which, when the water level is 2m, Nha Trang with an area of ​​251km2, the population of 361,454 people will suffer economic losses 12 983 584 USD; 94 deaths (days) and 418 deaths (nights). When the water level is 8m, the damage will be 2,500,224,471 USD; 18,164 people died (days) and 9,608 deaths (night).

Manila trench, also known as 'Manila subduction zone' (Manila trench) in the East Sea area, located west of the Philippines at a depth of about 5,400m, while the average depth of the East Sea is 1,500m.

The Manila trench has not caused any major earthquake in at least 440 years, so some experts believe that the great pressure is forming in this area, so there is a risk of a major fault in time. next.

The 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake occurred on this submerged zone creating a tsunami that claimed the lives of 230,000 people in dozens of countries, especially Indonesia.