Report: Strong quake kills 13 in Myanmar

(3nd UPDATE) BANGKOK, Thailand – A powerful earthquake struck central Myanmar on Sunday, November 11, sparking panic in the country’s second-largest city as terrified residents fled shaking buildings, witnesses said. NGO Save the Children reported that at least 13 were killed and 40 taken to the hospital. 

The death toll from the 6.8-magnitude quake included 4 laborers on a bridge and two people killed in a monastery collapse in an area north of Mandalay, Myanmar’s second biggest city, the aid group said in a report.

It said a further six people were killed in Sint Ku township in Sagaing region, while one died in Mandalay.

The quake hit around 117 kilometres (72 miles) north of Mandalay at a depth of just 10 kilometres, the US Geological Survey said. It initially put the magnitude of the quake at 7.0.

“I ran from my bed carrying my daughter out to the street. There were many people in the road. Some were shouting and others felt dizzy,” Mandalay resident San Yu Kyaw told AFP by telephone.

“People are now scared of more earthquakes. Especially those who live or run businesses in high-rise buildings are desperate and don’t know what to do,” he said.

The USGS issued a yellow alert, saying “some casualties and damage are possible” but that the impact should be relatively localized.

The quake hit at 7:42 am (0112 GMT) and was followed by two shallow 5.0-magnitude aftershocks within 20 minutes.

It struck around 572 kilometres east of the Bangladeshi capital of Dhaka, one of the world’s biggest cities.

Earthquakes are relatively common in Myanmar, which is emerging from decades of military rule under a new quasi-civilian government.

More than 70 people were killed in March 2011 when a powerful 6.8-magnitude quake struck Myanmar near the borders with Thailand and Laos. – Agence France-Presse