A 4.0-Richter scale earthquake occurred early on the morning of Aug 20 in Vietnam’s northwestern province of Son La, putting the total number of earthquake in the province at seven over the past month. The Institute of Geophysics said that the quake struck Muong La district at a depth of about 10 kilometers, no casualties have been reported. From July 19 so far, seven quakes with magnitude of between 3.4 and 4.3 occurred in the province where the country’s biggest hydropower plant located. But experts said that the quakes have caused no harm to the 2,400-megawatt Son La hydropower plant. The state utility Vietnam Electricity group said that no unusual phenomena or breakdown have been found and the plant is operating as usual. Local scientists said that the quakes caused by weak geographic condition in that location and warn hydroelectricity producers to make ready evacuation plans for people on the downstream. Earthquakes also happened in the central province of Quang Nam where the 190-MW Song Tranh 2 hydropower plant located in. Prof. Cao Dinh Trieu pointed an explanation to the land fissures from Laos to Vietnam’s central region, covering Quang Nam, Quang Ngai, Thua Thien-Hue, and Binh Dinh. In early July, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung asked the ministries to check the safety of all hydropower and irrigation dams during the rainy season. (Tin Tuc – News Aug 21 p4)
