Most of Da Nang didn't notice. Up in the old Tra My highlands, people felt their chairs move.

On the morning of September 17, three small earthquakes hit the city's southern mountains in about 40 minutes, according to the national earthquake and tsunami warning center, as reported by Thanh Nien:

  • 10:41 a.m.: magnitude 2.7, Tra Tan commune
  • 10:52 a.m.: magnitude 2.6, Tra Tan commune
  • 11:23 a.m.: magnitude 3.0, Tra Tap commune

All three were about 8.1 km deep and rated natural-disaster risk level 0, the lowest category.

"The chairs were shaking"

An official from the Tra Tap People's Committee told Thanh Nien that staff sitting in a solid office building felt their chairs shake. Residents in Nam Tra My and neighboring communes also felt it. No deaths or property damage had been recorded. The official said the commune couldn't assess the hazard itself, and that the repeated tremors were leaving residents uneasy.

Not a one-off

It's not the first time this year. On August 1, a magnitude 3.1 quake struck Tra Tan at 9:55 a.m. at a depth of about 10 km, also rated risk level 0, Nhan Dan reported, citing the warning center under the Institute of Earth Sciences. Neither report attributed a cause, and neither linked the activity to any specific structure.

Quakes of magnitude 3 are small. They rarely cause damage, and level 0 means officials expect no disaster impact. But these communes are also the ones dealing with landslides every rainy season. Repeated shaking on saturated hillsides is not something anyone up there wants to think about, and residents shouldn't have to piece the picture together from bulletins one tremor at a time.

What to do if it shakes

The guidance carried by Nhan Dan is standard:

  • Indoors: drop low, take cover under sturdy furniture or against an inside wall, and protect your head and neck.
  • Outdoors: move to open ground away from buildings, power lines and big trees.
  • Driving: slow down and stop somewhere safe, away from bridges, tunnels and power lines.

The warning center says it is continuing to monitor the area. If you live in the highlands, the most useful thing the city could publish next is not another bulletin. It's a plain-language explanation of what's causing these quakes and whether anyone is watching the slopes above homes after each one.

Sources

This story was compiled by the Da Nang Voice news desk from the published sources listed above. Facts, figures and quotes are attributed to those sources; Da Nang Voice did not conduct interviews for it unless the text says so. Corrections are dated and noted at the top of the story. Read our corrections policy. Spotted an error? Tell us.