Agency Report –
Myanmar should prepare for possible aftershocks following the powerful earthquake that struck the country on Friday, a German geophysicist told dpa.
“We assume that aftershocks will occur. This is a typical process,” said Oliver Heidbach from the GFZ Helmholtz Centre for Geosciences in the eastern German city of Potsdam.
GFZ scientists said a series of aftershocks with magnitudes of between 6 and 6.5 is possible in the coming hours or days, with the quakes decreasing in number and strength over time.
Alternatively, there could be a second strong earthquake, they said.
Heidbach warned that seismic waves generated by strong aftershocks could hit buildings that have already been damaged, making rescue work more difficult and dangerous.
The GFZ estimated the magnitude of Friday’s initial earthquake at 7.6, with the epicentre at a depth of around 20 kilometres, according to its preliminary analysis.
The epicentre of Friday’s earthquake was near the city of Mandalay in Myanmar, but the quake was also felt in Thailand and other countries.
A second earthquake hit the area minutes later, measured at a magnitude of 6.4 by the United States Geological Survey.
The epicentre of the first earthquake was located on a fault that absorbs the movement of the Indian tectonic plate, which straddles the equator, Heidbach explained.
He said the area is hit by strong earthquakes roughly every 100 years.
Heidbach said it was too early to assess the consequences of the earthquake.
