Vietnam’s first tsunami preparation exercise will be organized in the central city of Da Nang on Sept 1, news website VnExpress quoted an official from the National Committee for Research and Rescue as saying Friday.

 

Officials of other coastal towns and provinces will also attend the event to learn about it, Pham Hoai Giang, chief of the committee’s office, said on the sidelines of a conference on floods and storms prevention this year held in Hanoi Thursday.

 

The exercise will probably be based on a simulated tsunami triggered by an earthquake off the Philippines’ western coast, Giang said, adding that his committee is working with Da Nang’s authorities on a detailed plan.

 

After Da Nang, other localities with high risk of being hit by tsunamis could go through similar exercises and drills, he said. 

 

“We have to be proactive instead of waiting until disasters to take place and then thinking about response solutions,” he said.

 

Da Nang City is also establishing ten tsunami warning stations along the coast which are expected to be completed by this July.

 

According to the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, it will take about two hours for tsunamis generated by a strong earthquake in Manila, the Philippines, to reach Vietnam’s central coastline.

 

A quake of 8.3 magnitudes will probably trigger a 6.2-meter high tsunami in the central province of Quang Ngai and a 2.1-meter one in Nha Trang town, the news source quoted the ministry as saying.