Vietnam: It takes more than 1 hour to alert the tsunami

On average, it takes about 50-60 minutes to determine earthquake parameters and transfer information to relevant agencies .

Currently, in Vietnam, there is the Institute of Geophysics (Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology) which is almost the only unit to perform tsunami monitoring and warning. If there is more, it is the Center for Central Meteorological Forecasting, however, this unit is more inclined to forecast weather patterns with tsunamis rather than warnings.

Continue to build more monitoring stations

So far, only about 12 monitoring stations have been built and put into operation. Dr. Le Huy Minh, deputy director of the Institute of Geophysics said, expected in 2012 - 2013, there will be about 2-3 stations.

Associate Professor Le Huy Minh and colleagues are monitoring the tsunami warning map (Photo: L. Co)

It is known that the project ' Strengthening the network of earthquake observation stations to serve the earthquake warning and tsunami warning 2009 - 2013 ' that this institute submitted to the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment will have 30 stations distributed throughout the country and 8 stations set both seismic and GPS recorders continuously.

This project aims to build a system of national seismic stations according to international standards and a data processing center capable of fully and quickly identifying the parameters of earthquakes over 3.5 degrees. Richter occurs on the mainland and East Sea near the coast, earthquakes over 6.5 magnitudes across the South China Sea.

It takes more than 1 hour to alert

More worrisome, not only the lack and weakness of the number of earthquake monitoring stations, the operation and calculation, the warning of this system is too slow , Associate Prof. Dr. Nguyen Hong Phuong, Deputy Director of the Information Center Earthquake and Tsunami Warning, Geophysics Institute said

On average, it takes about 50 - 60 minutes to determine earthquake parameters and let information be transferred to relevant agencies. This means that there will be too little time to prepare for a tsunami.

This inadequacy also clearly shows the lack of initiative in updating data because in fact, Vietnam is currently relying mainly on tsunami data transmission from the regional and world tsunami warning system. Once the data is not proactive, it is difficult to take the initiative in response to natural disasters.

Map of earthquake epicenter distribution in Vietnam and regions
nearby (Photo: Institute of Geophysics)

25 tsunami scenarios are enough?

It is known that the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment has published 25 tsunami scenarios based on 25 different earthquake levels in Vietnamese territory. But if you look at the number of 100,000 Japanese scripts or the closest to 7,000 scripts of Indonesia, then the number of Vietnamese scripts is too small.

Many people explain, because Japan and Indonesia are two countries that are always warned of high risk of earthquakes and tsunamis, so their preparation is more thorough and careful than Vietnam is understandable.

This explanation also seems true but not enough because, a principle of dealing with natural disasters is more preventive. Moreover, the statistics and general judgment of scientists also show that Vietnam is not a country that is ignored by this type of natural disaster. Looking back, there have been earthquakes of level 8 and level 9 with tsunamis taking place in our country. Scientists warn: The risk of a 10m high tsunami flooding the Vietnamese coast is present if a magnitude 9.2 earthquake hits the Manila deepwater trench.

Besides, earthquake is a very special kind of disaster, if the land is too peaceful for a long time, it is also a potential area of ​​high energy accumulation to erupt a strong earthquake at any time. Myanmar, Thailand most recently is the money label lesson. These two Southeast Asian countries had a level 7 earthquake that killed more than 70 people.

The Chinese government will launch a campaign to map fractures that are operating in the country in response to an alarm from two strong seismic forces in Japan and Myanmar - according to Xinhuanet.

In China, these cracks can be tens to thousands of kilometers long. China is also working on a new seismic map. The map will highlight areas of earthquake risk and will be completed this year.

Based on the new map, the Chinese government will issue a "seismic deal" specific to buildings and facilities across the country. (Chi Giao)