Listen Live
97.9 The Box Featured Video
CLOSE

Via CNN:

A powerful earthquake hit Myanmar Thursday near its borders with China, Thailand and Laos, the U.S. Geological Survey said. The quake hit in eastern Myanmar, about 55 miles (89 km) north of Chiang Rai, Thailand, the survey reported.

It had a magnitude of 6.8, the survey said, revising the estimate down from an initial reading of 7.0. One person was killed by a roof collapsing in Chiang Rai, Thailand’s MCOT network reported, and tremors were felt in the capital Bangkok, 479 miles (772 km) south of the epicenter. It was a relatively shallow quake, which can be very destructive.

The Geological Survey initially said the quake had a depth of 142 miles (230km), but it later revised its estimate to say the quake was 6 miles (10 km) deep, putting it fairly close to the surface. An aftershock hit about half an hour later, with a preliminary magnitude of 4.8 and a depth of 6 miles, the USGS said. The center of the quake was 365 miles (589 km) northeast of Rangoon, the former capital of Myanmar.

It was 104 miles (168 km) south-southwest of Yunjinghong, Yunnan, China. A destructive tsunami is not expected, the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said.

This isn’t the first quake to hit this area, but man, these natural disasters coming along on a regular basis is no joke!