Buildings damaged as earthquake hits Vietnam

A 4.7-magnitude tremor rocked the old battle site of Dien Bien Phu in northern Vietnam, the second quake in two weeks.

A 4.7-magnitude tremor rocked the old battle site of Dien Bien Phu in northern Vietnam, the second quake in two weeks.

The earthquake, believed to be an aftershock of the 5.3-magnitude earthquake, which injured four people. It caused 90 billion dong (US$6.2 million) of damage to 3,238 buildings, including schools, offices and private homes.

The Vietnamese government has disbursed $US1 million to help quake victims.

Dien Bien Phu, 310 miles north-west of Hanoi, was the site of the historic battle where Communist Vietnamese forces defeated the French colonialist army in 1954.

The February 19 quake was the worst to hit Vietnam in 18 years, according to the Earthquake Observation Centre of the Institute of Global Physics in Hanoi.