According to the Center for Earthquake Information and Tsunami Warning (Institute of Earth Sciences) at 2:16 p.m. and 4:04 a.m. (May 16), a 4.0 earthquake occurred in Muong Cha district, Dien Bien province.
The coordinates of the earthquake are 21,735 degrees North latitude - 103,133 degrees East longitude, with a focal depth of about 10 km. Natural disaster risk level 0.
The earthquake and Tsunami warning center is continuing to monitor the earthquake.
Previously, also in Muong Cha district (Dien Bien province), the earthquake occurred at 11:27:20 on May 16, with a magnitude of 5.0. The coordinates of the earthquake are 21,747 degrees North latitude - 103,129 degrees East longitude; the focal depth of the impact is about 10km.
The Institute of Geophysics assesses the risk of natural disasters caused by earthquakes as level 2.
According to Vietnam's classification, earthquakes of equal to or larger than average size of 5 can cause moderate to severe damage to poorly designed construction works.
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.
