The authorities of Quang Nam Province’s Bac Tra My district, where the latest quakes occurred yesterday, have requested that the Electricity of Vietnam Group (EVN) fund the quake-related reconstruction cost of over VND2.5 billion (US$120,000). The request was made yesterday in a document sent by the provincial People’s Committee to EVN, which is the investor of the Song Tranh 2 hydropower plant, which is located in the district. The amount will be spent on rebuilding houses, public works and traffic infrastructure that have been damaged by the relentless quakes that have occurred in the district in the past several months, authorities said. Specifically, about VND505 million ($24,200) will be spent on repairing water supply systems that have been broken in quakes and on building ten new wells for locals. Another part, VND680 million, will be spent on rebuilding about 300 km of road surface that has been destroyed in quakes.Latest quakes Thousands of people in Bac Tra My rushed out of their houses after the five latest earthquakes consecutively hit the district early yesterday morning, said Le Van Tuan, chief of the secretariat of the provincial People’s Committee. The first of these quakes started at 1:45 am November 19 with a large explosion heard from underground, panicking local residents, Tuan said. Many of them did not dare to return home until long after the quakes had ended.

As previously reported, the most powerful quake since 1957, which measured 4.7 on the Richter scale, occurred in the district on November 15, with its epicenter located about 6 km underground.

After the quake, EVN released a notice confirming that the plant’s dam remained in normal condition. Three weeks earlier, another quake measuring 4.6 degrees also hit the area. Five quake observation stations have been installed in Bac Tra My and two other districts, Nam Tra My and Tien Phuoc, to monitor the disaster, the Global Physics Institute reported. However, of these five stations, only the one that was set up at the plant’s dam is connected to the Internet, while the other four are not yet.