Times when Vinh market traders 'lost everything'

(Baonghean.vn) - Fire and flood caused hundreds of millions of dong worth of assets of Vinh market traders to disappear. In just a moment, they were left penniless and facing debt.

March 2006: Temporary market fire - Vinh market, tens of billions of dong turned to ashes

Fire police tried to put out the fire but could only save part of the market. Photo: Archive

At around 7am on March 23, 2006, a fire suddenly broke out in the temporary market of Vinh market; after 45 minutes, almost the entire market was burned down. Initial damage amounted to tens of billions of dong.

The fire started in the market area and quickly spread to a series of neighboring kiosks such as the electronics, clothing, food, dry goods... The entire Vinh temporary market was engulfed in flames. The traders stood there helplessly watching their property and goods burn.

Being a temporary market and a narrow road, it was not until 9:30 am that two fire trucks were able to get close to the fire. Before that, people shouted to each other to scoop up buckets of water to put out the fire. The fire is still not under control.

The cause of the fire was an electrical short circuit in the electronics booth area; according to statistics, about 420 booths were burned and affected by this fire.

June 2011: Vinh market's side pavilion burned down, causing about 10 billion VND in damage.

On the night of June 20, a large fire broke out in the communal house area east of Vinh market, burning down 122 kiosks.

Residents living around the market said they noticed smoke coming from a fishing gear kiosk at 8:15 p.m. The fire quickly spread to adjacent kiosks. Minutes later, the nearby fire department dispatched several fire trucks to put out the fire.

However, due to the hot weather and the fact that this is an area where flammable items such as traditional Chinese medicine, fishing gear, paper, shoes, plastic products are sold, and the kiosks were locked, the firefighting work encountered many difficulties. Firefighters had to use pliers and crowbars to break the rolling doors and bring water to extinguish the fire at the burning kiosks.

At nearly 12 noon on June 21, at the scene, there was still smoke smoldering in the stalls.

Hundreds of millions of dong of the merchant's assets were suddenly burned to ashes by the fire. Photo: Archive

After a night of struggling to fight the fire, many small traders cried because they lost a large amount of valuable property; but then they had to accept to rush into saving what was left in the ruins.

Many people try to collect whatever is still usable.

The entire D1 communal house, seen from above, was completely burned down by the fire. The communal house was designed with a steel frame, brick walls, and a corrugated iron roof, with a total area of ​​720 square meters. The total value of D1 communal house's assets, 661 million VND, was basically completely destroyed.

Authorities determined that the fire at 122 kiosks of Vinh market traders caused an estimated loss of about 10 billion VND.

October 2017: After a night of heavy rain and floods, Vinh market traders lost about 3 billion VND.

Prolonged heavy rain caused a "historic flood" at Vinh market, damaging many goods of small traders, with estimated losses of about 3 billion VND.

On the night of October 9, torrential rains all night long caused the entire Vinh City to be submerged in water. Many areas of Vinh Market were heavily flooded, some locations were “submerged”. Shops and kiosks were isolated in the water.

Small traders at Vinh Market struggle to transport goods in floodwaters.

On the morning of October 10, the traders woke up to find their kiosks deeply flooded. Most of the goods inside were submerged in water. In particular, the kiosks selling votive offerings and dried goods were completely lost after the “historic flood”; the traders were left penniless.

70% of votive offerings were damaged, 50% of confectionery, 30% of fabric, 30% of traditional medicine, 50% of salty products, 30% of household appliances, the remaining damage was in food, plastic bags, and steel.

Many traders in Vinh City waded through water to save goods after heavy rain.

According to many residents, this is the deepest flooding in many years in Vinh city, with some places up to 1.5m deep... The floods have caused damage to nearly 1,500 households, estimated at about 3 billion VND.

Ngoc Anh

(Synthetic)