MidnightWatcher – Prophecy in Motion

Fox News – “YANGON, Burma – A strong earthquake of magnitude-6.8 struck northern Myanmar on Sunday, collapsing a bridge and a gold mine, damaging several old Buddhist pagodas and leaving as many as 12 people feared dead.

A slow release of official information left the actual extent of the damage unclear after Sunday morning’s strong quake. Myanmar has a poor official disaster response system, despite having lost upward of 140,000 people to a devastating cyclone in 2008.

Myanmar’s second-biggest city of Mandalay reported no casualties or major damage as the nearest major population center to the main quake Mandalay lies about 117 kilometers (72 miles) south of the quake’s epicenter near the town of Shwebo.

Smaller towns closer to the main quake’s epicenter were worse hit.

The area surrounding the epicenter is underdeveloped, and casualty reports were coming in piecemeal, mostly from local media. The region is a center for mining of minerals and gemstones, and several mines were reported to have collapsed.

The evening news on state television showed Vice President Sai Maul Hkam visiting the town of Thabeikyin, where the report said damage included 102 homes, 21 religious buildings, 48 government offices and four schools. The town, a gold-mining center, is near the quake’s epicenter and had casualties of three dead and 35 injured. The report brought total officially confirmed casualties to six killed and 64 injured.

Independently compiled tallies suggested a death toll of about a dozen.” Read more.

Strong 6.8 Earthquake In Burma Rattles Residents – “According to news reports, the most significant damage appeared to be the collapsing of bridge under construction across the Irrawaddy River in the town of Shwebo, the location of the quake’s epicenter. The website of Weekly Eleven magazine said five people were killed when the bridge, which was 80 percent built, collapsed. ‘This is the worst earthquake I felt in my entire life,’ said Soe Soe, a 52-year-old Shwebo resident. According to Soe Soe, the huge concrete gate of a monastery collapsed and several sculptures from another pagoda were damaged in the town.” Read more.