Myanmar hit by fresh earthquake as it recovers from major tremor

NAYPYITAW,  Myanmar 

A magnitude 5.5 earthquake struck near Meiktila, a small city in central Myanmar, on Sunday morning according to the US Geological Survey.

The tremor came as Myanmar is engaged in relief efforts following a massive 7.7 magnitude quake which hit the country’s central region on March 28.

The epicentre of the latest quake was roughly halfway between Mandalay, Myanmar’s second-biggest city, which suffered enormous damage and casualties in last month’s earthquake, and the capital Naypyitaw, where several government offices were damaged last month.

There were no immediate reports of major damage or casualties caused by the new quake, one of the strongest of hundreds of aftershocks from the March 28 event.

As of Friday, the death toll from that quake was 3,649, with 5,018 injured, according to Major General Zaw Min Tun, a spokesman for Myanmar’s military government.

Myanmar’s Meteorological Department said Sunday’s quake occurred in the area of Wundwin township, 60 miles south of Mandalay, at a depth of 12 miles.

The US Geological Survey estimated the depth at 4.8 miles.

Two Wundwin residents told Associated Press by phone the quake was so strong people rushed out of buildings and that ceilings in some dwellings were damaged.

A resident of Naypyitaw, also reached by phone, said he did not feel the latest quake.

Those contacted asked not to be named for fear of angering the military government, which prefers to closely control information.

The United Nations last week warned that the damage caused by the March 28 quake will worsen the existing humanitarian crisis in Myanmar, where a civil war had already displaced more than three million people.

It said the quake severely disrupted agricultural production and that a health emergency loomed because many medical facilities in the quake zone were damaged or destroyed.