Powerful earthquake rocks Myanmar, deaths reported

Powerful earthquake rocks Myanmar, deaths reported

2011-03-25 00:56:00 GMT+7 (ICT)

YANGON, BURMA (BNO NEWS) -- A powerful earthquake struck the northeastern region of Myanmar (Burma) on Thursday evening, near its border with Laos, China, and Thailand, seismologists said.

The 7.0-magnitude earthquake at 8.25 p.m. local time (1355 GMT) was centered in Shan state of Myanmar, about 89 kilometers (55 miles) north of Chiang Rai in Thailand and 772 kilometers (479 miles) north of Bangkok. It struck about 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) deep, making it a shallow earthquake, according to the Myanmar Department of Meteorology and Hydrology (DMH).

A seismologist at the DMH said there were reports of buildings having cracked and power outages, but had no information on casualties. "We are gathering that information right now," he said

The Xinhua news agency in China however reported that at least 10 people were killed as a result of landslides and a building collapse in Shan state. In Thailand, local media reported that a 55-year-old man was killed in Chiang Rai when a wall fell over him.

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