Scottish Catholic Observer

A team of five from Karuna Kengtung Social Service, the church’s charitable agency in Kengtung Diocese, arrived on the scene Saturday morning to collect data, Daw Rose Mary, executive secretary of Karuna Myanmar Social Services (KMSS) in Yangon said.
In Myanmar’s Kengtung Diocese the mother of a nun and her daughter-in-law were killed when a church, presbytery and convent were hit and badly damaged, Sister Rose Mary Naw Ru Ti, superior of the Sisters of Maria Bambina convent said. Another Charity nun’s nephew was also dead.

So far there are reports of around 60 dead in Myanmar and just one in Thailand, where another 5.5 magnitude quake early today added to the 6.8 that struck around 1330 GMT Friday with its epicentre 55 miles north of the Thai city of Chiang Rai, according to Myanmar Climate Change Watch.

The first quake was felt in Bangkok, more than 800km south of Chiang Rai and as far away as Vietnam, where people in tall buildings were evacuated in Hanoi. It was reported as being centred just 10 km below the surface but caused only slight damage on the Thai side. In Myanmar the death toll was expected to rise following tremors that destroyed more than 100 buildings. Some 40 people were reported to have been injured.

Sr Ru Ti added that Catholic housing between Mon Lin and Thiri cities had been seriously damaged but any causalities were not known yet.

Myanmar state radio announced Friday that 41 people had been killed and 48 injured in the quake. It said 244 houses, 14 Buddhist monasteries and nine government buildings were damaged.

A large crack in a road is seen in the photograph above. It emerged immediately after the earthquake in Tarlay, Myanmar.