13 killed in strong Myanmar quake
12 November, 2012
SHWEBO: A powerful earthquake, which hit Myanmar on Sunday killed at least 13 people, injured dozens and sparked panic in the major central city of Mandalay, residents and aid workers said.
The shallow 6.8-magnitude quake struck in a rural area 116 kilometres north of Mandalay followed by a series of aftershocks, the US Geological Survey (USGS) said.
Another strong quake with a magnitude of 5.8 shook the same region late on Sunday, it added. The tremor was felt by an AFP team near the town of Shwebo, which is north of Mandalay and close to the epicentre of the earlier quake.
Four labourers flung into the Irrawaddy River when a partly-built bridge collapsed in the region were among those believed to have died, according to a situation report from the Save the Children charity.
Damage to a monastery in the nearby village of Kyauk Myaung left two people dead and a further fatality was reported in Mandalay, it said. Six more people were killed in Sint Ku township, including two who died when a gold mine caved in.
An official from Myanmar's Relief and Resettlement Department confirmed a death toll of seven so far, with four still considered missing from the bridge construction site.
State media reported four deaths and more than 50 injured.
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