Naypyidaw, Myanmar — A magnitude 3.9 earthquake struck Myanmar early Saturday, the National Center for Seismology (NCS) reported. The tremor occurred at 07:14 IST at a depth of about 115 kilometres, with coordinates 24.79 N, 94.99 E, the NCS said on X.
Earlier this week the NCS recorded a magnitude-3.8 quake on Thursday and a magnitude-4.6 quake on Wednesday, the latter at roughly 138 km depth.
Myanmar is prone to moderate and large earthquakes and tsunamis along its long coastline because it sits between the Indian, Eurasian, Sunda and Burma plates. A roughly 1,400-kilometre transform fault crosses the country, linking the Andaman spreading centre to the northern collision zone known as the Sagaing Fault.
The Sagaing Fault increases seismic risk for cities including Sagaing, Mandalay, Bago and Yangon, which together contain about 46% of the country’s population. Although Yangon is somewhat farther from the fault trace, its dense population raises the potential impact of strong quakes; for example, a magnitude-7.0 earthquake in Bago in 1903 also affected Yangon.
Following the magnitude-7.7 and 6.4 earthquakes that struck central Myanmar on March 28, the World Health Organization warned of rapidly rising health threats for tens of thousands of displaced people in affected areas, including tuberculosis, HIV and vector- and water-borne diseases.
This report was sourced from a syndicated feed and is published as received; The Tribune assumes no responsibility for its accuracy or completeness.
