VNExpress-Apr 19
Kon Tum Province in the Central Highlands is seeing unusually active seismic events, with the number of earthquakes recorded over the past year five times that of the previous 120 years. Nguyen Xuan Anh, head of the Institute of Geophysics, on Tuesday said the number of earthquakes in Kon Plong District and nearby areas has been increasing since April 2021. Last year, there were 169 earthquakes of a Richter magnitude of 2.5 in the region. Between April 15 and 18 this year, there were already 22 earthquakes, with the biggest having a magnitude of 4.5, said Anh. “These are alarming numbers because for the previous 120 years, the Kon Plong region only recorded 33 earthquakes, of which two had a magnitude greater than 3,” he added. Besides geological faults, earthquakes might also be caused by water storage at dams, which may explain earthquakes in the Tranh River hydropower plant region of Quang Nam Province (429 km north of Dak Lak), said Anh. In future, there might be more earthquakes in Kon Plong, with magnitudes of up to 5.5 or even higher, he warned. The Institute of Geophysics is proposing to build two more stations for better surveillance and to figure out the cause of the earthquakes. Tran Quang Hoai, head of Vietnam Disaster Management Authority, said the heightened frequency of earthquakes might be caused by hydropower dams. Recently, there was no major construction in the Kon Tum region, except for hydropower activities. Read more at: https://e.vnexpress.net/news/news/hydropower-dams-bear-blame-for-province-s-earthquake-surge-4453303.html
