Myanmar was hit with an unusually large number of earthquakes in the first two weeks of 2018, according to the Department of Meteorology and Hydrology (DMH). However, experts say this is no indication that a big one will strike soon.
“Between Jan. 1 and now, many earthquakes have been recorded. Tremors usually follow after a strong earthquake,” department director Dr. Yin Myo Htwe told Eleven.
Most of the 19 quakes struck near the Bago Region town of Phyu, including seven that struck on Jan 12. One of the seven had a magnitude of 6.0 and triggered a series of subsequent tremors.
Although it struck a forested, sparsely populated area and caused no damage, people living in towns situated alongside the Sagaing Fault – one of Myanmar’s most historically deadly faults – fear that the uptick in seismic activity might mean a big one is imminent.
(Towns along the Sagaing Fault include Bago, Phyu, Taungoo, Naypyidaw, Yamethin, Thazi, Mandalay, and Sagaing.)
Responding to these concerns, Myanmar Earthquake Committee vice chairperson Myo Thant told the Myanmar Times that the series of quakes near Phyu does not portend upcoming disasters for residents of the other towns.
“The earthquake in Phyu originated from the Western Bago Yoma Fault. We can assume that it happened 40 kilometers west of the Sagaing Fault, so it is not related to the minor quakes that occurred before,” he said.
DMH director Dr. Kyaw Moe Oo said research is being conducted on the Sagaing Fault to prevent damage in the event of a large quake.
The Myanmar government, on the other hand, has warned the public via state-run media to take precautions to avoid “deaths and damages” caused by unpredictable earthquakes. The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Conservation placed a notice in the Global New Light of Myanmar on Saturday instructing people to anticipate aftershocks in the “hours, days, weeks, and sometimes months after the initial quake.”
Myanmar was hit by 60 earthquakes in 2017 and about 40 in 2016.
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