B: We’d like to express our sincere sympathy for the victims of the two earthquakes. We learned that severe damage occurred in Kumamoto and Oita Prefectures, with numerous structures collapsing and catching fire. More than 44,000 people have been evacuated from their homes.

A: Japan is one of the most seismically active areas on Earth, accounting for about 20% of global quakes of magnitude 6.0 or greater. Seismometers are recording some kind of event every five minutes, on average. We’re so lucky that Vietnam is located in one of the most geographically stable regions in the world, not on the Pacific Ring of Fire. In the past 100 years, there have been 2 major earthquakes near Dien Bien Province, in the northwest corner of Vietnam, and near Sapa, a popular tourist town.  It is estimated that even in that region, an earthquake of that magnitude occurs only once every 500 – 900 years.

Earthquake caused minor cracks on the wall in A Luoi district, Thue Thien-Hue province

B: Every year Vietnam records a few minor earthquakes. A moderate earthquake occurred in the northern city of Hai Phong in October, 2012. In Hanoi we only felt a very weak shaking that lasted a few seconds. Last December, five earthquakes were recorded in Thua Thien-Hue in Vietnam’s central region.

A: The Vietnam Earthquake Information and Tsunami Warning Center reported 10 tremors measuring between 2.5 and 4.7 on the Richter scale occurred in A Luoi and Huong Tra district, Thue Thien-Hue province. Luckily there were no casualties although small cracks appeared on the walls of houses.

We thank Stefan Schliephacke for this postcard

B: Now let’s read some more letters from our listeners.  From Sweden Ullmar Qvick says he listened to our program on May 7 at 20:30 UTC on 9730 khz with much better signal than on 7280 khz at the same time. He reported SINPO at 55544 and said there were no problems since CRI Beijing went off the frequency. In his reception report for the program on April 22, Ullma had noted that the frequency of 9730 khz had strong interference from CRI China.

A: Thank you very much for your follow-up information, which will be very helpful to our technicians. Ullmar wrote “Your broadcasts are very useful not only for following what is happening in Vietnam and the region, but also to get to know better the cultural life in Vietnam and other general matters. I do listen to English broadcasts from Tokyo, Seoul, Beijing, Taipei, Bangkok, and Delhi to get a more detailed picture of events than what is offered by Swedish Radio.”

B: It’s good to cross check information on foreign shortwave stations to acquire different views of an event. Ullmar we’ll verify your reception report with our new QSL card and we hope you receive it soon.

Summer is the season of flamboyant flowers and Lagerstroemia speciosa

A: Richard Nowak of the US emailed us a reception report for a program on May 5 on 12005 khz. He listened with a Gonset G-33 tube radio hooked up to an AOR LA-320 active loop antenna in a 5^th floor apartment in Miami Beach, Florida. He noted good reception with SINPO rating at 45334.

B: Richard wrote: “I enjoyed tonight’s show. The news on Vietnam and Asia was informative and it was nice to hear the US primaries mentioned. The Letter Box show was great and the coverage of the 21-year war with the US and Reunification Day was informative.” Besides political news, Richard was also interested in information about jazz and film festivals to mark Europe Days in Vietnam.

A: The European Days program is taking place in Vietnam. The month-long series will be a journey through the European cultural scene with activities in Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh city, and Da Nang city.

B: From India, Ratan Kumar Paul emailed us reception reports of programs from May 1 to May 7 at 1600 UTC on the frequency of 9730 kHz. He rated SINPO at all 4s. He said he was especially interested in the Sunday show on May 1.  He and his club members enjoyed the discussion about Vietnamese ceramics, comparing them with ceramics those from Korea, China, and Cambodia. “It was a very good program and we got a lot of information from it” Paul wrote.

A: As for the Letter Box on May 4, Paul said they enjoyed it as usual. He asked us to read more letters and emails from listeners on the Letter Box. Every Wednesday we acknowledge listeners’ letters received during the week and answer one or two questions. Sometimes we concentrated so much on answering a question that we don’t have time to mention all the listeners and letters we got from them.

B: We’ll keep your request in mind and try to acknowledge all letters on the air. My greatest pleasure at work is to check our mail box for listeners’ letters. I’m most interested in quick notes sent during or at the end of any of our shows.

A: Me, too. It gives us a feeling of talking directly to you. Muneer K.P wrote “your coverage on world news is wonderful and interesting.  On May 9 it was loud and clear on 9730 Khz.  SINPO rating was 45444. Best wishes to VOV.”
B: Rana Islam of the Rfi Fan Club in Bangladesh told us that he’s very happy with our good broadcast, strong radio signal, and very useful and informative webpage. He really enjoys it.

A: Just a few minutes ago, we got an email from Richard Nowak “Just a quick note today. I enjoyed tonight’s show at 2:30 on 12005 kHz and it came in well. The news, cool rock songs, and business report were very nice.”

B: We confirm that we’ve got reception reports from Stefan Schliephacke of Germany, who listened to us on March 28, Japanese listener Toshiya Nishimura, Juha Touminen of Finland, and Richard Lemke of Canada. We’ll verify them all with our new QSL cards.

A: That’s all for today’s Letter Box. We welcome your feedback at: English section, Overseas Service, Radio Voice of Vietnam, 45 Ba Trieu Street, Hanoi, Vietnam. You can email us at: englishsection@vov.org.vn. You’re invited to visit us online at www.vovworld.vn, where you can hear both live and recorded programs. Good bye until next time.