Powerful quake kills many in Myanmar
Source: Hueiyen News Service
Rangoon, March 25 2011:
At Least 74 people have died in a strong earthquake that struck Burma, with fears that the toll will rise as news from remote areas are still cut off.
Tremors were felt as far away as Bangkok, almost 800 kilometres from the epicentre, as well as in Hanoi and parts of China.
The US Geological Survey measured the quake at magnitude 6.8.A Burmese official said 74 people were killed and 110 were injured in five areas close to the epicentre.
More than 240 buildings had collapsed.
Across the border, Thai authorities said a 52-year-old woman was killed in Mae Sai district after a wall in her house collapsed.
In Rangoon, the Burmese country director for the charity World Vision, Chris Herink, said there did not appear to be ''catastrophic'' damage to infrastructure.
Our real concern is more of the rural areas.
There will be more casualities, I am afraid to say, unhappy information has been coming throughout the day, he said.
The epicentre of the quake "is a hilly area near the border between Thailand and Laos, the so-called Golden Triangle.
There is a lot of commerce that goes on in the area.'' World Vision helps care for about 7000 children sponsored by overseas donors in the affected areas.
The quake struck 90 kilometres north of Chiang Rai and 235 kilometres north-north-east of Chiang Mai, Thailand's popular tourist destination.