3.9-magnitude quake hits Dien Bien province

An earthquake measuring 3.9 on the Richter scale hit Muong Nhe district, the northern mountainous province of Dien Bien on August 7.

The tremor, which occurred at 17:00, was the third seismic activity recorded in the district this year. 

Although the epicenter was recorded in Lao territory, 55 kilometres from the Vietnam-Laos border, people in Muong Nhe district felt the quake, said Nguyen Thai Son, head of the provincial seismic observation station.

When the quake took place, houses were shaken with glasses and bottles clinking. Local people rushed out of their homes, afraid of aftershocks.

Muong Nhe district suffered from a 4.7-magnitude earthquake and a 3.1-magnitude earthquake on April 23 and July 30, respectively, with the epicenter located about 10 kilometres from Muong Nhe town.

Five people suffer acid burns in HCMC

Five people were hospitalised for acid burns when a can of acid was dropped as soon as an acid buyer left a stall in HCM City’s Kim Biên Market on Saturday.

The market’s chemical manager said that the weak acid was being sold as floor cleaner. Local authorities are dealing with the case.

Kim Biên market is known as the “market of death” for its sale of toxic, and sometimes, banned chemicals. With more than 100 shops selling industrial chemicals, it has been in operation for more than 50 years. Illegal trading of chemicals has long caused concerns over food safety and posed fire and explosion risks in residential areas.

Homeowner to be charged in house collapse

Hà Nôi police has decided to initiate legal proceedings in the case of a house collapse that claimed two lives and injured four others at 43 Cửa Bắc Street last Thursday.

The proposed charge would be violation of construction regulations, leading to serious consequences.

Police said the house collapsed because a water pipe broke while workers were digging up the foundation of the house next door, at No 41.

Early last week the owner of the house at No 41 was granted a licence to upgrade his house by the Ba Đình District People’s Committee, but was required to submit an impact assessment on neighbouring homes to relevant agencies and failed to do so.

Police also said that the house No 43 has weak foundation.

Almost 100 suspected explosive objects found

Southern Tiền Giang Province’s border guards have found almost 100 suspected explosive objects being carried illegally by boat in Lạch Channel, Vàm Láng Town .

The boat keeper said on Saturday that he received the objects from divers who collect underwater waste in southernmost Cà Mau Province. The boat owner was not there when the border guards searched the boat.

Twenty-six of the seized objects are iron cylinders, suspected to be mortar parts.

Activities mark AO Victims’ Day in Hanoi, Ninh Binh

Nearly 1,000 people from Hanoi and nearby provinces joined a cycling programme for Agent Orange (AO)/dioxin victims on August 7. 

The event, the second of its kind, was organised by the InCom Media as part of the activities to mark the the 55th anniversary of the Day for Agent Orange (AO)/dioxin Victims (August 10). 

Participants in the programme started from the My Dinh Stadium, passed through the streets of Le Duc Tho, Ho Tung Mau, Pham Hung, Thang Long Avenue and Le Quang Dao, and returned to the stadium. 

Chairman of the InCom Media Management Board Pham Van Toi said the programme aims to call for support for AO victims and their struggle for justice. 

The first programme also took place in the stadium on May 28. 

InCom Media plans to organise a gala night on August 13, with performances by such renowned artists as Phuong Thanh, Tuan Hung, Thu Minh, Quang Dung, Anh Tho, Minh Quan, Neo Phuoc Thinh and Kyo York to raise funds for AO victims. 

Previously on August 6, an art programme aimed at calling for joint efforts for AO victims was organised in the northern province of Ninh Binh. 

Numerous individuals and units were honoured during the event for their outstanding contributions to supporting the targeted group. 

Ninh Binh is home to over 22,000 families with members exposed to the toxic chemical. 

From 1961 – 1971, US troops sprayed more than 80 million litres of herbicides, 44 million litres of which were AO, containing nearly 370 kilograms of dioxin, over southern Vietnam, according to the VAVA. 

As a result, around 4.8 million Vietnamese were exposed to the toxic chemical, about 3 million of them are AO victims. While tens of thousands of people have died, millions of their descendants are living with deformities and diseases as a direct result of the chemical’s effects. 

Vietnam acknowledges Russian veterans’ support

The people of Vietnam never forget Russian friends’ contributions to their great victory against the US troops, a Vietnamese diplomat in Russia said. 

Lai Ngoc Doan, head of the department for Vietnamese community affairs at the Vietnamese Embassy in Russia, met with nearly 100 Russian veterans who assisted Vietnam during the anti-US war in Moscow on August 5. 

The event was organised by the embassy to mark the first victory of Vietnam against the US air force on August 5, 1964.

President of the Association of Russian Veterans Nikolai Kolesnik hailed the significance of the meeting held annually over the past 52 years, saying that it contributes to consolidating the friendship and cooperation between the two nations as well as educating patriotism among young generations. 

Participants enjoyed art performances by local Vietnamese artists featuring the friendship between Vietnam and Russia.

More emergency aid for flood-hit residents in Lao Cai

Emergency relief will continue to be delivered to residents in the northern mountainous province of Lao Cai who were heavily affected by recent flash floods. 

The Vietnam Red Cross (VRC) Central Committee said on August 7 that in the next few days, it will provide 250 packages of family basics and two canvas tents for those displaced by floods. 

Bereaved families will receive a financial support of 3 million VND (135 USD) for each dead person, the committee said, adding that its initial aid totals some 100 million VND (4,500 USD). 

To cope with emergencies, the VRC chapter in Lao Cai province has mobilised local volunteers to help residents evacuate, clean houses and build makeshift tents after floods. They also offered money, fundamental goods and clothes to the influenced people.  

Floods from the night of August 4 until the next morning in Lao Cai claimed three lives and injured five others. Seven people are still missing. 

While more than 20 houses were washed away or buried in earth and rocks, 450 houses were inundated. Total damage is estimated at some 200 billion VND (9 million USD), according to the province’s steering board for natural disaster prevention, search and rescue.

Values of Kien Giang Biosphere Reserve promoted

The Kien Giang Biosphere Reserve has made significant progresses in terms of ecological diversity and biodiversity preservation, heard a recent workshop in the Mekong Delta province of Kien Giang.

The August 5 event offered a periodical review of the reserve since it was recognised as a World Biosphere Reserve by UNESCO on October 27, 2006.

Now spanning more than 1.1 million hectares in Kien Giang’s ten districts and towns, the site is the second largest among the nine biosphere reserves in Vietnam.

It consists of three parts – Phu Quoc National Park , the U Minh Thuong National Park and the Kien Luong-Kien Hai coastal forest with more than 2,340 species of fauna and flora, including those listed in the Vietnamese and world red books.

Prof. Dr. Nguyen Hoang Tri, Chairman and Secretary General of the Man and Biosphere ( MAB ) Vietnam Committee, said the Kien Giang Biosphere Reserve is home to most of the tropical ecological systems, which play an important role to human lives as well as sustainable development in the region.

According to the reserve’s management board, over the past ten years, more than 5.6 billion VND (252,000 USD) sourced from the State budget and from donors has been injected into the site.

More than 60 projects valued at 13 million USD aiming to support environmental research and protection in the reserve were also implemented during the period.

At the workshop, scientists, experts and managers proposed solutions to managing and preserving the values of the reserve.

Such proposals will help Kien Giang province complete a report on the periodical review of the reserve to submit to the international MBA Secretariat, helping manage, preserve and develop the reserve in a sustainable manner in the next ten years, said Nguyen Xuan Niem, Deputy Director of the provincial Department of Science and Technology.

Kien Giang keen to develop green tourism

The Phu Quoc – Kien Giang Green Tour programme was introduced at a ceremony on the island on August 6 as part of the activities in response to the National Tourism Year 2016 – Phu Quoc – Mekong Delta. 

Addressing the event, Vice Chairman of the People’s Committee of Kien Giang province Mai Van Huynh highlighted the development of green tourism based on nature and culture with community involvement. 

The province will take numerous measures to promote green tourism, including training human resources and investing in diversifying tourism products, particularly eco-tourism and community-based tourism models, Huynh said. 

Deputy Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Huynh Vinh Ai affirmed the Party and the State has continuously considered green tourism a key economic sector, thus contributing to the sustainable and environmentally-friendly socio-economic development. 

Multiple activities will be conducted under the programme during the rest of the year, including workshops on sustainable tourism development, training courses and communication campaigns, among others. 

After the ceremony, participants joined a sand painting contest and a march to call for public efforts to protect the environment and plant trees.

Prime Minister urges Thai Binh to boost technology

Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc has urged the Red River Delta province of Thai Binh to boost the application of technology in agriculture and pay atention to environmental protection alongside socio-economic development. 

The PM made the request during his tour on August 7 of Thai Binh Province's Binh Dinh Commune, which is among the first eight communes in the province to achieve all the standards for new-style rural localities after just three years of implementation the government's rural area development programme. 

As one of its successes, the commune mobilised a total of 74 billion VND (3.3 million USD) for rural infrastructure construction. Local average income per capita has risen to 31 million VND (1,390 USD) a year compared to 7.7 million VND in 2010. 

PM Phuc praised Binh Dinh for the unity and consensus among officials and residents, saying that it is among the key factors to the commune's accomplishment. 

However, he pointed out that one third of the local population has not benefitted from the rural development programme, with many residents still having to seek jobs in industrial zones in or outside the province. 

The same day, the PM visited a concrete factory in Kien Xuong District and inspected the Tra Ly dyke system in Vu Dong Commune. 

The Government leader is expected to hold a meeting on August 8 with Thai Binh's key officials on August 8 on the province's socio-economic development.

New project preserves ethnic cultural values

The Government has approved a project to preserve and promote the literature and art of ethnic minorities. 

The project aims to promote Party and State policies on ethnicity as well as the cultural heritage of all ethnic minority communities across the nation to international friends. 

It also hopes to enrich the cultural identities of Vietnam as well as consolidate national solidarity and patriotism among ethnic groups. 

Under the project, surveys and studies will be conducted to develop a database of the literature and art of all ethnic minority groups. 

Some 1,500 of more than 2,500 collected ethnic works and research projects will be compiled and published in print and electronically. 

Documentaries and 3D books will be developed, each featuring the cultural identities, livelihoods and development of all 54 ethnic groups across the nation. 

The database will be available in Vietnamese and other languages on the project’s website.

Hau Giang works on new eco-tourism products

The Mekong Delta province of Hau Giang is developing new eco-tourism products based on the local advantages of rivers and orchards, according to Director of the provincial Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism Do Chieu Qui. 

Among those, a project to promote the well-known Nga Bay float market is well under way towards making it one of the local key waterway tourism packages. 

The project has a total investment of 35 billion VND (1.56 million USD), of which over 11 billion VND (490,000 USD) has been disbursed. 

Another tourist complex, the Vietnam – Australia Ecotourism Project in Vi Thuy district, is expected to be completed and run by the end of 2018, offering 13 hectares of orchard garden and a 5ha bird sanctuary. 

Additionally, a model of agricultural tourism is going to be applied soon along the route from Vi Thanh district to Can Tho City to lure more tourists to the locality. 

Efforts have also been put on preservation and promotion of the historical and cultural relic sites, such as the Temple of Uncle Ho and the war relic sites of Chuong Thien and Vam Cai Sinh. 

Community-based tourism sites have been developed in Cau Duc hamlet, Long Tri street, and Vi Thanh commune, with the assistance of 400 million VND (17,857 USD) sourced from the General Department of Tourism. 

A 130-hectare eco-tourism site has been zoned off in the Mua Xuan (Spring) Agriculture Centre, while a plan has been made to open entertainment and exploration activities at the Lung Ngoc Hoang Reserve Area. 

Hau Giang aims to lure half a million tourists by 2020 for total revenue of 200 billion VND (8.93 million USD).

Nha Trang City will have more car parks

The provincial people’s committee of the south-central Khánh Hòa Province recently approved a revision of the transport plan of Nha Trang City to create more space for car parks.

At present, the city has about 2 hectares for parking vehicles, located in Trần Phú, Phạm Văn Đồng, Tuệ Tĩnh and Trần Quang Khải streets, and a car park near Mả Vòng Intersection.

As per the calculation of the Khánh Hòa Department of Transport, about 10ha will be required by the year 2020 for parking vehicles.

Thus, the revision of the transport plan of the city was necessary to avoid traffic congestion in the city centre, Nguyễn Văn Dần, deputy head of the department, said.

Under the revision, Nha Trang City will have car parks outside the city centre to limit 16-seater cars to the downtown area.

The car park near Cam Ranh International Airport will be expanded to cover 6.4ha.

The provincial people’s committee also approved a project to use the land around the August 19 Stadium to build a car park, Dần said.

Deputy PM’s surprise check finds health station closed

A health station in Đắk Lắk Province’s Cư ÊBur Commune was found closed yesterday, when Deputy Prime Minister Vũ Đức Đam and a health ministry team made a surprise visit.

It was an unexpected visit, made at noon, because the health station in the Central Highlands province was not listed in the team’s inspection schedule for yesterday, a report in Tuổi trẻ (Youth) online newspaper said.

Đam and his team were on their way to check dengue-fever prevention activities in Central Highlands localities, when the impromptu visit took place.

Đam found all glass doors of the station locked and the medical equipment inside the station covered in layers of dust.

An official of the provincial health department tried in vain to contact the head of the health station by phone.

According to a local resident, the health station opened only from Monday to Thursday. It remained closed from Friday to Sunday.

Đam immediately ordered the provincial administration to quickly rectify the situation.

Police bust biggest-ever pirate DVD factory in Saigon

Ho Chi Minh City police raided what they called the largest illegal disc production operation on August 7, seizing tens of thousands of pirated DVDs from a shop as part of a crackdown on widespread bootlegging.

The underground factory on To Ngoc Van Street in District 12, registered under the name Van Phat Thinh Limited Company, only operated at night but had a complete production line with modern machinery worth millions of US dollars, the police said.

The factory was capable of pirating around 15,000 music and movie discs per day, making it the largest pirate disc manufacturing plant ever discovered in Ho Chi Minh City.

The owners used a lorry to transport the discs, a police officer said, adding that it had taken several months to investigate the case.

The owner was not at the factory at the time of the raid, but the premises have been sealed and thousands of discs have been seized.

Intellectual property violations have become common across Vietnam in recent years despite numerous efforts to crack down by authorities.

Piracy is a flourishing industry in Vietnam with bootleg discs widely available for sale. Most are smuggled in from abroad, particularly Cambodia and China.

Counterfeit CDs are widely available for about US$1 each, while DVDs can be bought for about US$2.

Saigon plans more crime-busting surveillance cameras

Ho Chi Minh City authorities plan to install more security cameras in what they call “crime hotspots” in a bid to beef up security, saying the current system has played a key role in reducing crime in the city of more than eight million.

Since April 2015, a 12.7 million network of surveillance cameras has been installed on streets around District 1 to crack down on robberies and tackle traffic violations. 

They have appeared not only “on every street in downtown Ho Chi Minh City” – in the words of authorities – but also in alleys with “complicated security” situations.

The municipal administration said in a recent directive that thanks to the network of security cameras, crime has fallen significantly in major hotspots. 

According to the city's police force newspaper, crime, including robberies, was down by nearly 16% in the first half of this year.

City hall, however, has failed to elaborate on how the security cameras have contributed to fighting crime. They also stopped short of saying how much the new network would cost the city.

Leaders have asked other districts to speed up the installation of security cameras, without spelling out which localities. District 3's administration has recently announced plans to install 600 cameras to keep an eye on any criminal activity.

The street cameras have also been employed to rein in traffic violations by detecting speeding or illegally parked vehicles. They have also also been installed on traffic police vehicles to prevent corruption.

Several popular tourism cities in Vietnam have recently installed citywide surveillance cameras in a bid to guard tourists against robberies and to crack down on traffic violations.

In July, local police in Nha Trang installed a new security camera system across the popular resort town. 

Since last December, the central city of Danang has been hooking up thousands of surveillance cameras in public places and residential areas, with locals even splitting the cost with the city.

National Young Informatics Contest 2016 opened in Binh Dinh

The 21st National Young Informatics Contest was opened at Quy Nhon city in the central province of Binh Dinh yesterday.

The Ho Chi Minh City Youth Communist Union and Ministries of Science and Technology; Education and Training; Information and Communications, Vietnam Television and Vietnam Informatics Association jointly organized the contest.

Speaking at the opening ceremony, Secretary of the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union (HCMCYU) Central Committee Nguyen Long Hai said: “The contest aims to encourage students, pupils and young science lovers in learning and researching information and technology (IT), contributing developing information & technology studying and young humanity resources in the school, application of information and technology”.

The 2016 National Young Informatics Contest took place on August 7 and will end on August 8, with the participation of 250 outstanding contestants from 47 provinces and cities across the country.

Heavy growth burden lies on year’s second half

With the gross domestic product growing by a less-than-expected 5.52% in the first half of the year, a heavy burden weighs on the remaining half if Vietnam wants to meet the growth target of 6.7% for the whole year.

However, no significant progress was seen in July when agriculture was still struggling due to natural disasters and climate change while industrial production rose by only 7.2% compared with a 10% increase a year earlier, of which the mining industry continued to shrink, 2.9% last month.

In July, in addition to the 9,621 newly established enterprises (down 1.4%), up to 5,933 and 915 enterprises were forced to close temporarily and permanently, 10.6% and 5.9% from the previous month, respectively.

The budget was also strained when income as of July 15 reached only 49.4% of the whole year’s target, with revenues from crude oil meeting a mere 39.6% of the target and those from State-owned enterprises reaching 38.4%. As such, spending deficit has amounted to more than VND105 trillion (US$4.7 billion) or 41.6% of the limit for 2016, although spending was equivalent to only 47.6% of the whole year’s estimate.

Exports, one of the main drivers of growth, continued to struggle with value in July down by a slight 0.2% against the previous month. The domestic sector reported a 0.6% drop. On aggregate, exports in the first seven months of the year rose by only 5.3%, half of the growth target for all of 2016. If the price factor was excluded, exports would grow by 9.5% since the prices of many exports fell sharply. For example, crude exports fell 21.8% in volume but 44.5% in value. Rubber revenues were down 10.4% despite a 4.9% rise in quantity. Consumer demand also showed little signs of improvement with total retail sales and consumer services up by only 9% in July and 9.4% in the first seven months of 2016.

It has become apparent that if Vietnam wants to achieve the 6.7% growth target, the government must stimulate growth in the non-State sector, including foreign-invested enterprises, particularly support for manufacturing and services enterprises. Instead of focusing on the State sector, policies should shift towards the non-State sector on three pillars: credit growth, tax burden reduction and administrative reform.

These policy areas are certain to be productive thanks to a stable macroeconomic environment with the consumer price index rising by only 2.48% compared with December 2015 and 2.39% compared with a year earlier. Average interest rates are only slightly volatile and foreign exchange rates fairly stable while both trade surplus and foreign reserves are increasing.

Khmer culture on display in Hanoi

Several cultural events are running at the Vietnam National Village for Ethnic Culture and Tourism in Hanoi until August 31 that depict ethnic Khmer people’s lives in southern Vietnam.

The daily life and unique rituals of Khmer people will be portrayed through the performances by Khmer artisans from the Mekong Delta province of Soc Trang from August 19-21.

They will perform traditional Khmer rituals and teach visitors how to make “banh xeo” (sizzling cake), “bun nuoc leo” (rice vermicelli noodle soup in savoury broth with fish, roast pork and shrimp), “banh gung” (ginger cake), and “banh ong” (tube cake).

Exhibitions will also take place featuring items used by Khmer people and photographs depicting their floating life which revolves around rivers and canals.

Central highlands urged to tackle dengue fever

Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam has urged authorities in Central Highlands localities to keep a close watch on the development of dengue fever in the region.

Speaking at a conference held by the Ministry of Health (MoH) in Dak Lak province on August 7, the Deputy PM asked for drastic measures to prevent the spread of dengue fever in the region.

Communication campaigns should be intensified to raise public awareness of disease prevention, including encouraging residents to use chemicals in their homes and high risk areas to kill mosquitoes and mosquito larva, he said.

People with dengue symptoms, such as high fever, headache and pain in muscles or joints, should go immediately to hospitals for examination and treatment, he stressed.

Regional localities were requested to provide information about dengue fever to relevant agencies so that measures to limit and control outbreaks of the disease can be implemented . Attention should also be paid to preparing medical materials and facilities for treating patients, with an aim to minimise fatalities.

He also stressed the need to arrange training courses for medical staff.

According to Head of the Department of Preventive Medicine under the MoH Tran Dac Phu, the Central Highlands region has recorded 7,411 dengue cases, including four deaths, so far this year. Gia Lai province recorded the highest number of infections with 3,081 cases, followed by Dak Lak, Kon Tum and Dak Nong with 1,865 cases, 1,387 cases, and 1,079 cases, respectively.

The rate of dengue-infected patient remains high, at about 168 cases /100,000 people. 48 out of 50 districts in the four provinces were hit by the disease.

The outbreak of the disease in the region was attributed to low awareness of disease prevention, and hot weather and poor water storage in many localities, which facilitated the development of mosquito larva.

Earlier the same day, Deputy PM Dam and Health Minister Nguyen Thi Kim Tien inspected dengue prevention measures in Ea Tul commune and the General Hospital in Buon Ma Thuot city of Dak Lak province.

Dong Thap damages over VND14.6 bln due to natural disasters

The People’s Committee of Dong Thap province announced that 20 heavy rains accompanied with lighting, thunderstorms, cyclones and powerful winds swept through the Mekong Delta’s province from January to August.

As result, 300 houses, 230 hectares of rice, vegetable & fruit crops, and electric poles were destroyed by the weather condition. Worse, a person was injured due to the natural disasters.

Landslide continued hitting some places of Dong Thap province such as Lai Vung, Chau Thanh, Hong Ngu, Cao Lanh, Thanh Binh with total damage up to over VND14.6 billion.

Currently, Vietnam officially enters rainy season, so Dong Thap authority asked relevant departments and agencies need to conduct timely methods against natural disasters, protect life and property of local residents.

VNA/VNS/VOV/SGT/SGGP/TT/TN/Dantri/VNE