Vietnam beyond the affect of Asian earthquake
By KIM CUC
(SGT-HANOI) Vietnam is beyond reach of the powerful undersea earthquake on Sunday that unleashed tsunamis killing tens of thousands of people in south and southeast Asia, said the former head of the Geophysics Institute.
Professor Nguyen Dinh Xuyen said the tremendous earthquake was in the Mediterranean-Himalayas, one of the two strongest earthquake belts in the world. That belt originates from the Mediterranean countries then goes via Tiangshan of China and the Himalayas west of China and east of India to Myanmar before circling Indonesian island of Sumatra.
Vietnam is located 1,000 kilometers from that so-called Ring of Fire so it is also in the affected region but did not suffer from direct shock, Vietnam Net quotes Xuyen as saying.
The 9.0 magnitude earthquake that struck north of the Indonesian island of Sumatra early on Sunday was the most powerful in 40 years. It triggered tidal waves as high as 10 meters and they hit coastlines in Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India and Thailand.
Dinh Van Toan, deputy head of the Geological Institute affiliated to the National Scientific and Technological Institute, said Vietnam escaped from the disaster as it is behind the shields of Indonesian and Malaysian islands.
Vietnam has yet to suffer from tsunamis and the strongest earthquake that the country has ever suffered took place in Tuan Giao town in the northern mountainous province of Lai Chau in 1983 and measured at 7.1 degrees on the Richter scale.
Toan said geologists in the world can forecast the places that earthquakes may take place but they have yet to forecast when the seism will happen. The Vietnam Geophysics Institute now has two dozen earthquake magnitude measuring centers.
The Saigon Times Daily, December 28, 2004
