6.8 magnitude earthquake strikes Myanmar - felt in Bangkok, Chiang Mai

[Gaybutton]

A 6.8 magnitude earthquake, stronger than the Italy earthquake, struck central Myanmar. 3 deaths have been reported so far. The earthquake was felt in Bangkok to the point that people in high rise office buildings were sent scurrying out. No injuries or deaths have been reported in Thailand.

The most significant damage occurred in Bagan, damaging about 60 ancient pagodas.

I don't think anything was felt in Pattaya. I didn't feel anything and I have seen no reports and haven't heard from anyone saying they felt it in Pattaya.

Did any of you feel anything? If you did, tell us about your experience.
_____________________________________________________________

Myanmar earthquake damages famed Bagan temples

24 Aug 2016

YANGON - A powerful 6.8 magnitude earthquake that struck central Myanmar on Wednesday killed at least one person and damaged around 60 pagodas in the ancient city of Bagan, officials said.

The quake, which the US Geological Survey said hit at a depth of 84 kilometres, was also felt across neighbouring Thailand, India and Bangladesh, sending panicked residents rushing onto the streets.

At least one man was killed in Magway region where the quake struck, said Han Zaw Win, a local MP from Pakokku township.

"A 22 year-old man was killed when a nearby building collapsed during the earthquake," he told AFP, adding that a woman was also injured.

A local official reported heavy damage to several temples in Bagan -- Myanmar's most famous archaeological site and a major tourist destination some 30 kilometres north of the quake's epicentre.

"About 60 pagodas in Bagan were damaged. Some were seriously damaged," said Aung Kyaw, the director of Bagan's culture department.

A tourist police officer from Bagan confirmed the damage and said a Spanish tourist was slightly hurt when the quake knocked her from the temple where she was watching the sunset.

Malinda Perera, manager of Bagan Lodge, a luxury hotel, told Kyodo News the quake was the strongest to shake Bagan in recent years and lasted for about a minute.

"All of our guests rushed to the two assembly points outside the hotel calmly. They handled it nicely and weren't panicked at all," Malinda said.

"The hotel building wasn't damaged. Only some water glasses and plates were broken, the Sri Lankan said, adding, "It's still safe to visit Bagan."

Photos and video footage posted on social media showed what appeared to be severe damage at Sulamani Temple, one of the most popular temples for visitors to Bagan.

Scaling Bagan's ancient Buddhist monuments to watch the sun set over the city's 2,500 temples is a daily ritual among tourists and local pilgrims who flock to the site.

The temples, built between the 10th and 14th centuries, are revered in the Buddhist-majority country.

Myanmar, which has opened its doors to a rising tide of visitors since emerging from junta rule in 2011, is eager to see the ancient capital designated as a Unesco world heritage site.

The USGS estimated that the earthquake's impact would be "relatively localised" but noted that many buildings in the region are "highly vulnerable" to shaking.

Soe Win, a local MP from Chauk -- a riverside town close to the epicentre -- said it was the worst earthquake he had experienced in years.

"More than eight pagodas in town collapsed," he told AFP, referring to Chauk. "Two buildings collapsed as well, while some others were cracked. People in town are still scared."

The earthquake caused high-rise buildings in Myanmar's largest city Yangon to sway, as well as those in Bangkok and the Indian city of Kolkata.

"Services of the underground railway have been suspended fearing aftershocks of the quake," Kolkata Metro Railway spokesman Indrani Banerjee told AFP.

The quake was also felt throughout south and southwestern Bangladesh close to the border with Myanmar, with residents running outside.

At least 20 people were injured as workers tried to flee a building in the Savar industrial district outside Dhaka, ATN Bangla television reported.

"All of us ran to the streets leaving the houses and shops unsecured as the quake seemed very dangerous," Nazmus Sakib, from the southern city of Chittagong near the Myanmar border, wrote on his Facebook wall.

Earthquakes are relatively common in Myanmar, although the country has not suffered a major one since 2012.

Story and photos: http://www.bangkokpost.com/travel/aroun ... an-temples
_____________________________________________________

At least three dead in Myanmar quake

August 24, 2016

YANGON- A powerful 6.8 magnitude earthquake shook central Myanmar on Wednesday, killing at least three people including two children, local officials said, and damaging some of the famous pagodas in the Southeast Asian nation's ancient capital of Bagan.
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) said the quake hit near the town of Chauk, southwest of Mandalay. Tremors were felt asfar away as Thailand, where witnesses reported high rise buildings swaying in Bangkok, and the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka.

A fire department official from regional capital Magwe said two young girls were killed when a riverbank gave way in Yenanchaung township, south of Chauk.

One person was killed and another injured when a tobacco processing factory collapsed in the town of Pakkoku, to the north, the duty officer at the local fire department said.

There were no other confirmed casualties, and early reports suggested limited damage overall.

"My house shook during the quake. Many people were scared and they ran out of the buildings," said Maung Maung Kyaw, a local official of the ruling National League for Democracy (NLD)party.

"Some of the old buildings have cracks. The biggest damageis to the bank building in the town. The damage to other buildings isn’t that significant."

The quake struck at a relatively deep 84 km (52 miles), the USGS said.

Chauk is about 35 km (20 miles) from Bagan, known as the"City of 4 Million Pagodas" and a major draw for Myanmar’s nascent tourism industry.

Yangon-based travel agent Amy Saw, who had been in touch with her firm’s Bagan office, said some of the pagodas there had been damaged, and the Ministry of Religious Affairs put the number sustaining some kind of damage at 65.

According to the 2014 census, Chauk has a population of about 45,000, with around 185,000 living in the surrounding area. It was a thriving oilfield during the British colonial era.

"So far as we heard from our local staff, a three-storey building collapsed in Chauk and a pagoda was badly damaged in a Yenanchaung," a fire department official in Magwe told Reuters.

Ko Tin Ko Lwin, a resident of Yenanchaung township, told Reuters that a pagoda that had been cracked before the quake hadcollapsed, while electricity poles and some trees were felled.

The quake shook buildings in Myanmar’s biggest city of Yangon and in other towns and cities, witnesses said.

Office buildings in the Thai capital Bangkok, to the east of Myanmar, shook for a few seconds, residents there said.

The quake was also felt in Bangladesh, to the west of Myanmar, where some people ran out into the street as buildings shook, residents said.

Myanmar is in a seismically active part of the world where the Indo-Australian Plate runs up against the Eurasian Plate.

In March, 2011, at least 74 people were killed in an earthquake in Myanmar near its borders with Thailand and Laos.

Story and photos: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/breakin ... 93746.html
_______________________________________________________

Bangkok high rises shaken by Myanmar earthquake

24 Aug 2016

People in several buildings in Bangkok reported being shaken by the 6.8 magnitude earthquake that struck central Myanmar early in the evening on Wednesday.

"My office is shaking," an office worker on the 22nd floor of Silom Complex said at 5.42pm. "All my work colleagues stood up."

The jolts were felt in high rises in other parts of the capital including Ratchadaphisek, Khlong Tan and Khlong Toey areas. People in buildings in Chiang Mai were also shaken.

The Meteorological Department's Seismology Office said the 6.8-magnitude quake was detected at 5.34 Thai time and its epicentre was about 416 km northwest of Muang district of Mae Hong Son.

Local media said the jolt could be felt by officials working on the fourth floor of the Mae Hong Son provincial hall.

Officials at the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand and the Royal Irrigation Department said the tremor caused no damage to any dam in the provinces that border Myanmar, including Mae Ngat Somboon Chon dam in Mae Taeng district of Chiang Mai where a very small vibration was detected at 5.34pm.

An earthquake of 6.8 magnitude struck central Myanmar on Wednesday, the US Geological Survey (USGS) said, shaking buildings across the country and the region.

The quake struck 143 kilometres west of the city of Meiktila at a depth of 84km, the agency said.

The Thai embassy in Yangon said no Thais were hurt in the earthquake in central Myanmar.

The quake shook buildings in Myanmar's biggest city of Yangon and in other towns and cities, witnesses said.

Worried residents of Yangon, the country's main city, rushed out of tall buildings, and objects toppled from tables and from Buddhist shrines in homes. Police said the earthquake damaged several Buddhist temples in the ancient city of Bagan.

Story and photos: http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/general ... earthquake

[Gaybutton]

Earthquake kills four in Myanmar, damages over 180 pagodas

August 25, 2016

YANGON - Experts predict aftershocks in some areas within the coming months, depending on the severity of the original earthquake.

A magnitude 6.8 earthquake with an epicentre about 12 miles west of Chauk Township in Magway Region hit at 5pm on August 24, killing four people and injuring one, according to the Department of Meteorology and Hydrology (DMH).

Tremors were felt in Magway, Bago, Ayeyawady, Yangon, Mandalay, Nay Pyi Taw, Sagaing, Shan and Rakhine.

Dr Kyaw Tun from the Myanmar Earthquake Committee said: "There is a fault called 'Gwaycho' in Chauk Township, with the 'Tuyintaung fault' to the west. The 1975 Bagan earthquake shook Taungoo, Hinthada, Pyay and the delta. This earthquake was shallow. According to the records, the Bagan earthquake was due to the Tuyintaung fault.

"There may be aftershocks in Chauk, Magway or Rakhine. It may take several months, depending on the severity of the original earthquake. Taking a look at the Taungdwingyi and Thabeikkyin earthquakes, a series of aftershocks occurred for six consecutive months," he added.

The Ministry of Religious and Cultural Affairs said over 185 Bagan pagodas and temples were damaged.

The Parliament in Nay Pyi Taw was apparently damaged, according to MPs. Pagodas and other buildings in Mandalay, Rakhine and Magway showed cracks.

"The epicentre was not in the fault zone but near the Tuyintaung fault. The quake occurred between the Mann segment and the Yenangyaung fault," Dr Yin Myo Min Htwe, assistant director of the DMH earthquake division, said.

Aung Swe Win, deputy director of Myanmar Fire Services Department, said they are carrying out search and rescue operations in Magway and Mandalay, with 35 members for each township. He added that one person died after a building collapsed in Magway Region and a monastery was damaged.

In Yenangyaung and Pakokku townships, Ko Ko Naing, director-general of the Ministry of Social Welfare, Relief and Resettlement, reported that four people have been reported dead.

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/breakin ... 93750.html

[Bangkokian]

The quake was felt in high buildings in Bangkok according to the Bangkok Post. http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/general ... earthquake
I live in central Sukhumvit (Bkk) and a new 37 story condo block is nearing completion in my tiny soi.
It is being completed by about 100 Burmese workers.
My friend was in the soi buying food when all the workers fled into the soi. Not knowing what was happening, he joined them.
Presumably, they were working on the top floors and felt the tremors and swaying.
Ironic that it was from an earthquake in their own country.

[Gaybutton]

My friend was in the soi buying food when all the workers fled into the soi.

What about you? Did you feel anything?

[Bangkokian]

No, at 3rd floor level I noticed nothing.
And my friend noticed nothing --- he just joined in the general panic.