Myanmar is to install dozens of seismometers amid fears that the country is underprepared for a major earthquake.
The government is partnering with the Chinese Academy of Sciences to set up the instruments, which detect and measure seismic waves, for a limited three-year research period, according to the Voice.
Scientists use the data to find out how much energy is released in a quake, and to map the interior of the earth itself.
The installation of seismometers along known fault lines in Myanmar including the Indian border, Sagaing and Mandalay Regions and Shan state should help local experts gather information about tremors.
Seismologists in Myanmar fear that its major cities are underprepared for a powerful quake. The country has been rattled by a series of minor tremors since the start of the year. The strongest, in April, measured 6.9 on the Richter scale but did little damage.
The last deadly quake, in Bago Region in 1930, killed 50 people in Yangon. The population then was just 400,000.
