Regarding the strong earthquake of 7.7 on the Richter scale that occurred in Myanmar on March 28, many people in Dien Bien province also expressed concern because this area is also considered the birthplace of earthquakes in our country. Historically, Dien Bien province has recorded two earthquakes of 6.9 and 6.7 richter - the largest in the past 100 years in Vietnam.
On the morning of March 31, a reporter from Lao Dong Newspaper had an interview with Mr. Nguyen Thai Son - former Head of Dien Bien National Seismic Station (under the Institute of Geophysics) - who has been monitoring the earthquake in Dien Bien for nearly 40 years.
According to Mr. Nguyen Thai Son, the recent earthquake with a strength of 7.7 on the Richter scale in Myanmar was a rare earthquake in history, not only occurring once every thousand years. The earthquake in Myanmar has a very large impact scale, even felt in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City because its impact is only 10km deep.
In the past 100 years, the two biggest earthquakes in Vietnam have occurred in Dien Bien. In 2015, a strong earthquake of 6.9 on the Richter scale, the center of which was located in the south of Dien Bien basin, and in 1983, a strong earthquake of 6.7 on the Richter scale, the center of which was in Tuan Giao district. Fortunately, both of the above earthquakes did not cause much damage because at that time there were not many modern construction works, mainly hills.
The 201535 earthquake occurred when our country did not have modern equipment to record. However, according to French documents and historical documents, no damage was recorded.
"The earthquake in 1983 in the center of Tuan Giao district and surrounding areas also had almost no construction works, only a few government headquarters were cracked and rocks and soil from the mountains rolled down to people's fields and gardens. People's stilt houses and wooden houses also have flexible adaptation properties, so they are less affected" - Mr. Son said.
According to Mr. Son, Dien Bien is considered the cradle of earthquakes in Vietnam because earthquakes of 4-5 degrees richter occur quite often. However, according to the assessment of researchers from the Institute of Geophysics, there is no possibility of earthquakes greater than 7 richter in Dien Bien.
Regarding the reason for the frequent earthquakes in this area, Mr. Son said that because Dien Bien is located on two large geological faults that are still operating frequently, the Lai Chau - Dien Bien faults running through the Dien Bien basin area to Laos and the Song Ma - Son La geological faults running through Tuan Giao and Dien Bien Dong districts.
"There are two main active earthquake belts in the world, the Pacific and Mediterranean. Vietnam is not in these two belts but is still affected. The Northwest region, especially Dien Bien and Lai Chau, is the area with the strongest geological activity in Vietnam. Therefore, major earthquakes in Vietnam mainly occurred in Dien Bien and the Northwest region" - Mr. Son added.
In addition, according to Mr. Son, the cause of frequent earthquakes in the Northwest region is also due to the influence of large hydropower plants. When hydropower plants store water, it also causes stimulating earthquakes. For example, when the water was collected in the Hoa Binh Hydropower Reservoir, there was an earthquake of 4.9 degrees richter and when the water was collected in the Son La Hydropower Reservoir, there was also an earthquake of 4.7 degrees richter...
