Bangkok (AsiaNews / Agencies) - A magnitude 6.8 earthquake struck Myanmar and Thailand at 20.25 local time, with its epicentre near the border between the two countries. At least 70 people have died and more than 100 have been wounded according to local sources, but that number is likely to climb. The city of Tarlay in Myanmar, not far from the border with Thailand, was hardest hit.
According to local sources five monasteries have collapsed, nine others were damages and 244 other buildings destroyed. The earthquake is believed to have had a surface depth of ten kilometres. The quake was also felt as far away as Bangkok, where buildings shook. The quake was felt with an intensity of 5 degrees in Hanoi, where people left their homes running out onto the streets. A woman died in Thailand in the Mae Sai district, when a wall fell on her.
The earthquake has alarmed Thai authorities, who ordered controls to be carried out on the Chiang Rai and Chiang Mai dams. "There are no cracks in the four major dams Chiang Rai-Mae Tak, Mae Sruay, Huay Chang and Nong Ngu. None of them was hit," relayed the head of the Department of Irrigation Chalit Damrongsak.
