Minor tremors were felt in Ratanakiri province last Sunday after a 5.1 magnitude earthquake struck a nearby province in Vietnam, raising concerns among locals about Cambodia’s preparedness for similar seismic events.
Local Vietnamese media reported this as the strongest earthquake ever recorded in the area, with its epicenter in a rural district of the Kon Tum region at a depth of 8.1 kilometers. Despite the moderate intensity of the event, with the most severe shaking occurring near the epicenter, no damage was reported in either Vietnam or Cambodia.
While Cambodia is considered low risk for direct earthquake strikes, the country’s disaster response action plan lacks specific protocols for earthquakes. Citizens have begun to voice their concerns about the absence of early warning systems and clear response plans from authorities for more severe seismic events, despite government agencies emphasizing the need for awareness following Sunday’s tremors.
Soth Kimkolmony, spokesperson for the National Committee for Disaster Management (NCDM), the government agency overseeing disaster preparedness, response, and recovery efforts, noted that this is the first time Cambodia has experienced noticeable tremors from earthquakes in Vietnam.
He added that, although no earthquake has occurred in Cambodia, tremors felt from an epicenter less than 200 kilometers away suggest that an earthquake originating in Cambodia’s northeast region is not out of the question.
The Global Earthquake Model Foundation, a leading organization in assessing global seismic risks, has identified Cambodia’s northeast provinces—particularly Ratanakiri and Mondulkiri—as the most seismically active areas in the country. Due to these provinces’ rock conditions and their proximity to the earthquake-prone region of Kon Tum, they are considered the most susceptible to significant ground movement in the event of an earthquake.
However, Cambodia is considered to have a low probability for direct earthquake strikes.
According to ThinkHazard, a web-based tool used for assessing natural disasters and developed by the Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery, there is a 2% chance of an earthquake occurring within Cambodia’s borders over the next 50 years.
Even so, Cambodia’s preparedness, response and recovery protocols for seismically active provinces during earthquake related events – such as last week’s wave of tremors – is not exactly clear.
Following his initial interview with CamboJA News, Kimkolmony did not immediately respond to additional questions about how the NCDM plans to safeguard people or prevent and manage chaos during an earthquake.
When asked a similar question about the measures the government is taking to prepare citizens in event of a seismic disaster, government spokesperson, Pen Bona simply reiterated that last weekend’s earthquake occurred in Vietnam, not Cambodia.
Despite the improbability of a direct strike in their region, locals of Ratanakiri have voiced apprehension about potential disastrous seismic scenarios and questioned local authorities’ preparedness to mitigate risks.
Sok Leang E, a local who felt the tremors from the earthquake in Kon Tum while at her home in Ratanakiri, told CamboJA News that she is concerned about the lack of preparedness from authorities. She worries that citizens will not have access to early warning systems or that disaster relief could be inadequate if a high-magnitude earthquake was to strike Ratanakiri.
“I’m scared because I worry that there could be another one,” she said. “I hope we can have a notification system like other countries, with sirens or warnings throughout the province to alert us ahead of time.”
Ratanakiri provincial spokesperson, Sou Serey, told CamboJA News that many citizens were unaware that the ground shaking was due to a nearby earthquake in Vietnam until foreign news reported it shortly after it ruptured at 11:35 a.m.
“[After the tremors], some people sent a screenshot of information in Vietnam that there was an earthquake – no one knew that there was an earthquake in Vietnam, not even Cambodian news,” said Leang E.
The Ratanakiri Provincial Department of Water Resources and Meteorology, who usually release public statements regarding natural disasters via Facebook, has yet to comment on the tremors or the measures it is taking to develop an early warning system.
Heng Kimhong, president of the Cambodian Youth Network Association (CYN), suggested that the Ministry of Water Resources and Meteorology and related institutions were unable to provide timely information about the quake, likely because it was Cambodia’s first experience with such an event and they are ill equipped.
In the past, Cambodia has relied on its centrally directed National Action Plan for Disaster Risk Reduction as a playbook for managing administrative and infrastructural systems during natural disasters. Updated every five years, the 2024-2028 edition of the plan focuses on mitigating risks from floods, hurricanes, droughts, fires, building collapses, and the impacts of climate change.
As the plan continues to undergo updates, the absence of specific earthquake preparedness measures stands out, especially for residences in Cambodia’s northeast provinces, who, despite a low overall risk, are the most vulnerable to seismic hazards in the country.
