Earthquake-Like Phenomenon In Central Vietnam Panics Residents

Earthquake-Like Phenomenon In Central Vietnam Panics Residents

www.thanhniennews.com

Hundreds of people in a village in Vietnam’s central highlands fled their homes in panic early Monday when a suspected earthquake hit the area.
No one was hurt and scientists and authorities are studying the area to see if it was indeed an earthquake or some other phenomenon.

Residents of A Klai village in Gia Lai province’s in La Pet commune said they had felt strong vibrations beneath the ground, houses had shook violently, cracks had appeared on the walls, the ground had sunk. Fissures up to 4 meters deep had opened up.

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If there is a country in the World which is almost free of earthquake, then it should be Vietnam. The last earthquake that occurred in Vietnam that I was aware of was in Ho Chi Minh City sometime 2006. The epicenter was not even in Vietnam itself but in the ocean near Vietnam. If I can remember well, that was about 4.1 (or less ritcher's scale).

Bottom-line is that Vietnam has not experienced powerful quakes for so many years. Incident like this one which will be considered minor should not cause much panic in countries that is known to have powerful quakes.

The fact that authorities & scientists can not confirmed that what occurred was indeed an earthquake is a bit surprising. Not an earthquake? Then what could it be?

Another thing to consider is that it happened confined to a tiny area of around 50 meters only. The rest of the area outside 50 meters was unaffected.


www.thanhniennews.com
(visit the link for the full news article)