International geophysicists warn that the risk of a tsunami occurring along the coast of Vietnam is very high, and therefore, Vietnam needs to urgently establish a tsunami warning system.
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Diagram of an earthquake and tsunami warning system in the United States |
Professor Kerry from the Tectonic Observatory at the California Institute of Technology (USA) stated that the Global Positioning System (GPS) has detected a large fault line deep within the earth, which was the cause of the massive earthquake measuring 9.2 on the Richter scale, leading to the devastating tsunami on December 26, 2004.
Professor Kerry warned that there is currently enormous stress in the fault zone. The release of this pressure could result in new fault lines forming in the near future.
Vietnam and Thailand are also located in the tectonic shifting region of Indochina towards the east. Should an earthquake occur, it could potentially generate a tsunami at the boundary between the Philippine and Asian plates. This would significantly impact Vietnam’s coastline.
Meanwhile, Associate Professor Dr. Vu Thanh Ca, Director of the Center for New Technology Applications Research at the Vietnam Meteorological and Hydrological Institute, stated: “We cannot be complacent about the risk of tsunamis.” Vietnam has recorded numerous disaster stories along its coastline over the past 100 years.
Following the earthquake that triggered a tsunami in the Indian Ocean on December 26, 2004, which killed over 200,000 people, left hundreds of thousands homeless, and caused material damages amounting to tens of billions of US dollars, many Asian governments have been very concerned about establishing a tsunami warning system.
At a special meeting of ASEAN leaders discussing the aftermath of the earthquake and tsunami disaster in Jakarta (Indonesia) in early 2005, Vietnamese Prime Minister Phan Van Khai proactively addressed the need to quickly develop a tsunami warning system in the Indian Ocean region.
However, many scientists believe that under current conditions in Vietnam, issuing tsunami warnings is not straightforward.
Currently, Vietnam has only six coastal monitoring stations and lacks an offshore monitoring system as well as an earthquake and tsunami warning system. Vietnam has also not yet joined the Pacific tsunami warning network.
