An earthquake of magnitude 6.8 rocked northeast Myanmar killing more than 70 people and destroying several houses and govt officials. A govt run Myanmar television reported that the earthquake killed 74 people and injured 111 in Tachilek and Tarli towns besides destroying 244 houses, 9 government offices and 14 Buddhist monasteries. The epi-center of the earthquake is said to about 50 km north of Tachilek.

Meanwhile, the Myanmar Red Cross and the Crescent Society has sent 1000 relief packages in the area but going in the affected regions is becoming a problem. From Yangon it takes almost four days to reach the area while flights into Tachilek’s airport are only for a couple of days in a week.

The earthquake struck at 8:25 pm local time (1355 GMT). However, no reports of casualties have been received from Yangon and Naypyitaw.