VietNamNet Bridge – On the afternoon of September 27, two consecutive earthquakes with large explosions occurred in Bac Tra My district (Quang Nam province) and the area near the Song Tranh 2 hydropower plant.

Ms. Ha in Tra My town said that she was cleaning the house when she heard underground explosions and felt strong vibration, which made her stunt. She had to rush out of the house and unfortunately fell on the ground.

The two earthquakes also made thousands of students in Bac Tra My panic. They screamed and crept under the table or rushed to the school yard.

Vice Headmaster of Nguyen Du Secondary School said that although school leaders had been trained how to respond to earthquakes, but new earthquakes occurred before they had time to diffuse that knowledge to teachers and students.

"At training, the trainer told us to determine by the location of each school to respond, but when earthquakes occur, both teachers and students are scared, it is difficult to escape based on the predefined position," a teacher said.

According to the people of Bac Tra My district, different from the quakes of the last two weeks, the recent earthquakes occurred in the early afternoon. Normally, after a heavy rain at night, quakes occurred the day after.

Vice Chairman of Bac Tra My district Tran Anh Tuan confirmed to have two strong earthquakes at 1.36pm, accompanied with underground explosions, and at 2.50pm, also with explosions.

Statistics of the People's Committee of Bac Tra My district show that in the last one month (from August 17), the local authorities have recorded 30 earthquakes.

In particular, the earthquake at 1.36pm of September 27 was the strongest so far.

Earthquakes have caused cracks for nearly 200 houses and dozens of public works in the district.

However, on the afternoon of September 27, the Institute of Geophysics only recorded only one quake at 1.36pm, with a magnitude of 3.8 Richter scale. The epicenter was in Bac Tra My Town, about 10 km from the Song Tranh 2 dam. The remaining quake should be less than 2 Richter scales so seismic stations could not record.

The Union of Science and Technology of Vietnam is holding a workshop on October 3 to assess the situation and find measures to solve the problem of the Song Tranh 2 hydropower plant. Prof. Cao Dinh Trieu, from the Institute of Geophysics, will present a summary report of critical advice on earthquakes in Song Tranh 2.

This morning, the State Council on Acceptance of Construction Works (Ministry of Construction), in cooperation with the Quang Nam People's Committee, held a press conference to announce the results of troubleshooting the Song Tranh 2 dam and related issues.

Na Son