MYANMAR – The National Unity Government – NUG warned to take special care not to cause further losses due to natural disasters while already suffering the social sufferings caused by the military council’s various oppressions and arbitrary coup d’etat, and also issued earthquake disaster prevention measures.
The people of Yangon were shocked when they felt the earthquake that struck near Bago on September 23. After the quake, the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster Management (MOHADM) of NUG issued cautionary items regarding earthquakes.
The announcement described the nature of earthquakes as well as dos and don’ts before, during and after an earthquake.
The National Geological Survey of Thailand announced that the earthquake that struck on the night of September 23 had a magnitude of 5.1 on the Richter scale. Because it was a shallow earthquake, which was centered at a depth of about 6 miles, the movement of the earth’s crust was intense, and the residents of Yangon felt it significantly. The evening before that earthquake, there were four earthquakes between 2 and 4 on the Richter scale and one more in the early morning of the next day (September 24).
Bago City is located in the southern part of the Sagaing Fault and was hit by a strong earthquake in 1930. As a result of that earthquake, some buildings in Yangon collapsed and at least 50 people died.
Experts have warned that the Sagaing fault is prone to strong earthquakes. Scholars have warned that Myanmar is at risk of earthquakes due to the thrust zone moving from the boundary between the Indian and Burma rock layers.