Skip to content
Myanmar

Earthquake in Myanmar

By experts and staff

Published
Children sit amidst the debris of their destroyed homes southwest of Yangon May 7, 2008. (STR New/Courtesy Reuters)

The USGS reported earlier today that a strong, 7.0 magnitude earthquake hit northeastern Myanmar Thursday evening Burmese time. There are few, sketchy reports of damage, but it will be interesting to watch and compare the response to Japan. The Burmese government is not, shall we say, very interested in transparency, and after Cyclone Nargis in 2008, which killed over 130,000 people, the government hid the scope of the disaster, purposefully slowed down relief efforts, and, after some time, tossed out international aid groups. A similar response to this earthquake could ensure major tragedy.