Vietnam: Also need to be wary of tsunamis

According to one study, a fault in the East Sea of ​​the Philippines could cause level 9.0 earthquakes and tsunamis. Within 2-3 hours, this tsunami can hit Vietnam.

A tsunami occurred in Vietnam

The latest and independent study of a group of scientists at the Institute of Meteorology and Hydrology (Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment) and the Institute of Geophysics (Institute of Science & Technology) all shared that Vietnam is located in location is less likely to occur tsunamis but not so subjective.

Although there is no concrete evidence, the leading experts in the field of hydrometeorology and geophysics assume that tsunamis have come to our country.

Victims living near the coast Pangandaran was injured in the tsunami on July 17 (Photo: Reuters) According to Dr. Vu Thanh Ca at the Institute of Hydrometeorology (IMH), the tsunami once occurred along the coast of Thua Thien-Hue, the day September 11, 1904, 22,027 houses were destroyed, 519 wrecked boats, 724 dead.

'There is a document that tsunami attacked Nam Dinh coast in 1930, Da Nang in 1964'- Associate Prof. Dr. Tran Thuc, Director of IMH said - However, there is no clear evidence to affirm or cover receive the above information '.

It is worth noting that, over the past 300 years, the Philippines, the neighboring country in the South China Sea, has recorded quite specifically tsunamis. Accordingly, from 1677 until now, on the Philippine coast, there were 16 tsunami battles.

'It is very likely that one of those tsunamis has caused damage in our country without being recorded,' said Dr. Nguyen Thanh Ca.

After the historic tsunami on December 26, 2004 in Indonesia, about 300,000 people died, for the first time, the Institute of Geophysics (IoG) sent a team of tsunami investigators led by Prof.Dr. Nguyen Dinh Xuyen carried out at the coast from Dien Chau (Nghe An) to Deo Ngang (Ha Tinh).

Investigation revealed that many tsunamis occurred in the survey area, causing many deaths and missing. However, the cause has not been clarified. Therefore, 'it is necessary to conduct surveys along the coast of Vietnam' - Associate Prof. Dr. Nguyen Ngoc Thuy, IoG Director said.

In particular, the leader of IoG for the first time said that the risk of tsunami in Vietnam is real. 'Seismologists must think about earthquakes in the submerged zone of the northwest of the Philippines that can reach 8.9 to 9.0 degrees and thus the coast and islands of Vietnam may also have Tsunami risk, 'said Dr. Thuy.

From the viewpoint of some Japanese and New Zealand scientists that two scientists at IMH had a chance to exchange, the sinking earthquake in the Philippine East Sea region could indeed reach from 8.4 to 9.0 richter.

Tsunami scenario in Vietnam

Based on these observations, 2 scientists in IMH used modern numerical models to calculate the spread of tsunamis in the East Sea for the purpose of forecasting and developing a warning warning map. Tsunami muscle for Vietnamese waters.

Their study, called 'Digital Models of Tsunami Spreads All over the South China Sea' , draws great attention in the scientific community. This is the first time a tsunami scenario in Vietnam has been built quite specifically with remarkable data.

Assuming the Philippine western fault band operates with a 9th earthquake, the possibility of a tsunami is almost realistic. At the place of the earthquake, tsunami has a wavelength of 100 km. Therefore, it is difficult to know if there is a tsunami in the sea. When approaching to the edge of the tsunami, the wavelength is only about 30 m.

With modern computational models, two scientists determine the magnitude of tsunamis at different time periods and sea surface status since the tsunami formed until it reached the coast of Vietnam. The numerical model that they built is evaluated by many professionals to very well simulate the spread of tsunamis.

Quang Ngai sea to Phan Rang
(Photo: johnmtaylor)

According to calculations, after an earthquake of more than 1 hour, tsunamis have spread to the Paracel Islands and our Spratly Islands. Depending on the topography of the seabed in some islands, the tsunami altitude in these islands can be very large, even higher than 5m.

After about 2 hours from the formation, tsunamis spread to the coast of our country and strongly influenced the waters from Quang Ngai to Phan Rang. Da Nang is also affected by tsunamis but weaker.

On the height distribution map of tsunamis at locations near the coast, tsunami elevations are seen to vary greatly along the coast. Almost all of the aforementioned coastline, the tsunami altitude exceeded 3m, 1.5 times higher than the tsunami height in Indonesia on July 17, killing more than 300 people.

At some positions, two scientists warn, tsunami altitudes may exceed 5m. They pay special attention, with the wave height at the shore of 5m, the height of the climbing waves can exceed 10m. With this height, tsunamis can cause great damage to coastal areas, similar to the tsunami damage caused in late 2004 in Indonesia.

A tsunami warning message should be built

From these calculations, Dr. Vu Thanh Ca said that in order to proactively deal with tsunamis, the calculation to produce a tsunami warning message for the islands of the two Spratly archipelagoes of Truong Sa and Hoang Sa is needed set. In parallel with that, to build a tsunami warning system for our waters.

At the same time with the construction of a tsunami warning system, education should be strengthened to raise public awareness about the risk of tsunamis, signs of tsunamis and measures to prevent tsunamis in dangerous areas. High tsunami muscle.