At about 12:50 on March 28 (local time), a 7.7 magnitude earthquake occurred at a depth of nearly 10 km, with the epicenter 16 km from Sagaing City (Myanmar) and 17.2 km from Myanmar's second largest city, Mandalay.

PHOTO: REUTERS

The massive earthquake caused severe damage to people and property in Myanmar, affecting many Southeast Asian countries, including Vietnam.

In Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City at around 1:30 p.m. the same day, many people living in apartment and office buildings felt their houses shaking and felt dizzy as if their blood pressure had dropped.

Speaking to Thanh Nien , Dr. Nguyen Xuan Anh, Director of the Earthquake and Tsunami Warning Center, Institute of Earth Sciences, Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology, said that this was a very large earthquake so the area of ​​influence was very wide.

Therefore, the distance from the earthquake location to Hanoi is about 1,000 km and to Ho Chi Minh City is about 1,700 km, people still felt the earthquake.

According to Dr. Nguyen Xuan Anh, the earthquake that occurred in Myanmar was classified as large (magnitude 7-7.9) on the moment scale (symbolized as Mw).

PHOTO: NHAN DAN NEWSPAPER

Earthquakes of this magnitude, when they occur, will cause damage to many or all structures in many areas. Some structures will partially collapse or be severely damaged. Even well-designed structures will still be damaged.

Dr. Nguyen Xuan Anh assessed that an earthquake measuring 7.7 on the Richter scale would cause a loss of life of between 0 and 250,000 people. Every year, the world has an average of 10 to 20 such earthquakes.

Where do people follow earthquake news?

Vietnam is not a country where major earthquakes occur frequently. Therefore, many people do not know how to look up information about earthquakes.

Currently, the place that provides complete and official information about earthquakes in Vietnam is the website http://igp-vast.vn/ of the Institute of Earth Sciences (Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology).

In addition, another earthquake page published by the US Geological Survey (USGS) is also used by technology and media companies when reporting on this phenomenon. This page arranges events in chronological order, with the most recent event at the top, and the earthquake's strength on the moment scale is noted next to it.