Burma earthquake: More than 60 killed Skip to main content

Burma earthquake: More than 60 killed

Chedi Luang pagoda, Chiang Saen district, northern Chiang Rai province Thailand A rising toll and damage across both sides of the Burma Thailand border has followed the quake

Related Stories

More than 60 people have died in a magnitude-6.8 earthquake in Burma which struck near the Lao and Thai borders.
It happened at 1355 GMT on Thursday and was centred about 70 miles (110 km) from the northern Thai city of Chiang Rai, the US Geological Survey said.
It was felt 800km to the south in the Thai capital Bangkok, and in the Vietnamese capital, Hanoi.
The quake was shallow, at a depth of 6.2 miles (10km). There are fears the casualties could be much higher.
State radio in Burma said that 65 people had been killed and 111 injured in the quake.
It said that 244 houses, 14 Buddhist monasteries and nine government buildings were damaged.
The town of Tachileik and surrounding villages in Burma's Shan state appear to have borne the brunt of the earthquake.
Cracks are visible in roads and rice fields have been wrecked by rising silt and water, reports say.
The state-controlled New Light of Myanmar newspaper reported that 15 houses collapsed in the town of Tarlay.
Roads, bridges, hospitals and other buildings have been at least partly damaged.
"We are trying to reach the remote areas," one official said told AFP.
Hospital patients and staff outside hospital in Chiang Rai, Thailand - 24 March 2011 Patients in Chiang Rai, Thailand, were evacuated from a hospital following the earthquake
"The military, police and local authorities are trying to find some people injured in those affected areas but the roads are still closed," he said.
The districts around Kengtung and Tachileik are hilly and remote but an active border trade is carried out between many scattered communities.
The BBC's Rachel Harvey in Bangkok says Burma is ill prepared to deal with natural disasters.
Communication systems and infrastructure are poor and the military government tends to limit the flow of information.
It is likely to take some time before a clear picture of the the disaster emerges, our correspondent says.
Collapsing wall On the Thai side of the border, paddy fields and temples from Chaengsaen to Mae Sai have been damaged.
In Chiang Rai in northern Thailand, scores of people have been injured and buildings affected.
"We are worried that the area might be hit with stronger quakes. There was another quake at 7am," said Somsri Meethong of the Mae Sai District office, referring to an aftershock.
"I had to run again like last night. What we have seen on TV about Japan added to our fear."
One woman in Thailand's Chiang Rai province, close to the epicentre, was killed when a wall collapsed.
map
In neighbouring Laos, little damage and no casualties have been reported.
The head of the disaster preparedness for the Red Cross there, Bountheun Menevilay, said the quake was felt strongly in the thinly populated border provinces of Luang Namtha and Bokeo.
Earlier reports suggested there had been two strong earthquakes moments apart in the same area, but the USGS later clarified that there had been just one quake.
Earlier this month, on 11 March, a 5.4 magnitude earthquake struck just north of this area, 225km (140 miles) southwest of Dali in Yunnan, southern China.
That was the same day as the huge 9.0 magnitude quake and tsunami hit Japan; however, Japan is on a different tectonic plate.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-12852237

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Chronology of the Press in Burma

1836 – 1846 * During this period the first English-language newspaper was launched under British-ruled Tenasserim, southern  Burma . The first ethnic Karen-language and Burmese-language newspapers also appear in this period.     March 3, 1836 —The first English-language newspaper,  The Maulmain Chronicle , appears in the city of Moulmein in British-ruled Tenasserim. The paper, first published by a British official named E.A. Blundell, continued up until the 1950s. September 1842 —Tavoy’s  Hsa-tu-gaw  (the  Morning Star ), a monthly publication in the Karen-language of  Sgaw ,  is established by the Baptist mission. It is the first ethnic language newspaper. Circulation reached about three hundred until its publication ceased in 1849. January 1843 —The Baptist mission publishes a monthly newspaper, the Christian  Dhamma  Thadinsa  (the  Religious Herald ), in ...

Sri Bhaddanta Chandramani Mahathera

The Life Story of A Distinguished And Outstanding Bhikkhu The Most Venerable Saradawpharagree Sri Bhaddanta Chandramani Mahathera The Buddhist missionary Saradaw Ashin U Chandramani was endowed with great gifts and led a famous and long life. He was a very well known, distinguished and outstanding Bhikkhu Mahathera. While living in the Kushinagar Monastery, a place close to where the Lord Buddha had passed away to Nirvana, the Government of India had offered, and he had accepted, the highest, most honourable and respected title "Guru Guru MahaGuru". He became the first ever President of all Buddhists in India.A World Buddhist Conference took place in Kathmandu during the reign of King Mahindra of Nepal. The Conference was very well attended by over one hundred thousand Buddhists from various parts of the world and it was opened by King Mahindra himself. As requested by the King, Saradawpharagree blessed all the participants with the power of Triple Gems...

Thai penis whitening trend raises eyebrows

Image copyright LELUXHOSPITAL Image caption Authorities warn the procedure could be quite painful A supposed trend of penis whitening has captivated Thailand in recent days and left it asking if the country's beauty industry is taking things too far. Skin whitening is nothing new in many Asian countries, where darker skin is often associated with outdoor labour, therefore, being poorer. But even so, when a clip of a clinic's latest intriguing procedure was posted online, it quickly went viral. Thailand's health ministry has since issued a warning over the procedure. The BBC Thai service spoke to one patient who had undergone the treatment, who told them: "I wanted to feel more confident in my swimming briefs". The 30-year-old said his first session of several was two months ago, and he had since seen a definite change in the shade. 'What for?' The original Facebook post from the clinic offering the treatment, which uses lasers to break do...