Staff at the Dien Bien seismic monitoring station inspects the quake intensity (Photo: VNA)

Nguyen Thai Son, head of the Dien Bien seismic monitoring station said the quake struck at a little after 5 pm in Muong Nhe district, about 120 km from the centre of Dien Bien Phu city.

Of the total nine tremors in the province this year, five occurred in Muong Nhe district and the rest in Dien Bien Dong district.

The strongest one was measured at 4.0 and the weakest one 2.5. The most recent was a 3.0 magnitude quake in Muong Nhe earlier this month.

Earthquakes are normal in the mountainous province of Dien Bien as it is situated on the fault systems of Dien Bien – Lai Chau and Song Ma – Son La.

In 2018, there were six quakes in Dien Bien and three others in the border regions.

Over the past 100 years, three big earthquakes with magnitudes of over 5 on the Richter 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).