An earthquake measuring 4.1 on the Richter scale struck Dien Bien Dong district, the northern mountainous province of Dien Bien, late February 9.(Photo: laodong.vn)
Dien Bien (VNA) – An earthquake measuring 4.1 on the Richter scalestruck Dien Bien Dong district, the northern mountainous province of Dien Bien,late February 9.
The quake occurred at 19:49 on February 9 with its centre at a depth of 10kilometres and shocks lasting about 3 seconds, saidNguyen Thai Son, head of the National Seismic Observation Station of the Instituteof Geophysics in Dien Bien.
As the intensity of the quake is rather strong, residents in Dien Bien Phucity, especially in Dien Bien Dong district, can feel the tremors which rattledhouses and other furniture, according to Son.
This is the sixth earthquake has hit in the province so far this year.
Earlier, five earthquakes with magnitude from 2.5 to 4.3 on the Richter scale wererecorded in Dien Bien Dong and Muong Ang district and border areas betweenVietnam and Laos (7-8 kilometres from Muong Nhe district) on January 8, January9 and February 2.
Last year, Dien Bien province was struck by seven earthquakes in differentareas in the districts of Dien Bien, Muong Cha, Dien Bien Dong, Tuan Giao andTua Chua and Muong Lay township with the magnitude ranging from 2.1 to 3.9 onthe Richter scale.
According to Son, quakesare normal in the mountainous province of Dien Bien as it is situated on thefault systems of Dien Bien – Lai Chau and Song Ma – Son La.
Over the past 100 years, three big earthquakes with magnitudes of over 5 on theRichter scale were recorded in Dien Bien, one in 1935 (magnitude of 6.9),another in 1983 (magnitude of 6.7) and the latest in 2001 (magnitude of 5.3). -VNA
VNA
