Myanmar evaluates damage after earthquake
Yangon - Myanmar was evaluating the damage Thursday a day aftera magnitude 6.9 earthquake struck the country, a news report said.
At least three pagodas were destroyed in Sagain region in centralMyanmar, but no major damage or causalities were reported so far asthe area surrounding the epicentre is underdeveloped, according tostate-owned Myanma Alin newspaper.
Myanmar has tens of thousands of Buddhist pagodas, some older than1,000 years, but the ones damaged in Wednesday’s quake were20th-century constructions.
The earthquake took place at a depth of 135 kilometres about 170kilometres north-west of Mandalay, Myanmar’s second largest city.
"It was strong, but we were lucky. No one is injured in our area,"said Sai Lamin, a journalist who was visiting his native town of Myingyan in Sagain when the quake struck.
The tremors were felt as far away as Yangon and Mandalay, as well asin north-eastern India and central India.
In Kolkata people rushed out of their homes and high-rise buildings were evacuated, local news channel ABP Anando reported. There were reports of cracks in some buildings.
"I could feel the building swaying," said Anjali Malik, resident of a13th-floor apartment. "It was scary."
Four people were admitted to hospital in Siliguri town, 500kilometres north of Kolkata, for injuries suffered while evacuating their homes, ABP Anando reported, citing doctors.
Electricity was switched off as a precautionary measure for a while in two of the Indian states that are located between Myanmar and Bangladesh. Two people were injured in the area.
In Chittagong, Bangladesh, 300 kilometres from the epicentre, fourmulti-storeyed buildings tilted after the earthquake and were evacuated, officials said.
At least 20 people sustained minor injuries during the evacuation ofone of them, a six-storey shopping complex, said Sarwar Jahan, anofficer at the Fire Service and Civil Defence department.
Another person was hospitalized after a wall collapsed in aresidential building, he said.
In the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka, many people also fled their homeswhen they felt the tremor, for fear of being crushed.
- AFP