Powerful quake in Thai North damages 7 provinces

BANGKOK, May 8 (TNA) - The Ministry of Interior's Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation reports that a strongest 6.3-magnitude earthquake which rocked the Thai North earlier this week has affected seven provinces, where an elderly woman died and 23 other people were injured. The official report, released on Thursday morning, said that, as of 7:30pm on Wednesday, 14 districts, 52 sub-districts and 408 villages in the seven provinces were affected by the May 5 powerful quake, mostly in the northern Chiang Rai Province. The department's Director-General Chatchai Promlert told journalists that the 6.3 magnitude quake, the strongest in the Thai history, with its epicentre located in Sai Kao Sub-district of Chiang Rai's Phan District, was followed by hundreds of aftershocks, 115 of them with the magnitudes of 3.0-5.9 on the Richter scale and 285 others with the magnitudes of less that 3.0 on the Richter scale. The seven affected provinces include Chiang Rai, Chiang Mai, Phayao, Nan, Phrae, Lampang and Kampaeng Phet, in which at least a dozen households were found totally destroyed and 8,372 others were partly destroyed, along with 47 schools, three hospitals, one hotel, one shopping mall, one bridge, five roads and 42 temples. The disaster prevention and mitigation's chief revealed that his department has set up a national-level disaster prevention and mitigation cooperation centre, housed at his agency's headquarters in Bangkok, to be a central command in solving quake-related problems and coordinating with parties concerned to provide urgent assistance to quake victims, covering assistance resolved by the Cabinet. Meanwhile, Caretaker Transport Minister Chadchart Sittipunt told reporters, after his Wednesday's meeting with Governor of Tak Province Suriya Prasartbundit and officials from Tak Highway Districts 1 and 2, that the 6.3-magnitude earthquake could cost his ministry about 50-100 million baht for repairing damaged routes. Chadchart noted that the powerful earthquake also slightly cracked bridges and some walls at Chiang Rai International Airport, where land and air traffic remains normal while repair has been carried on. However, the caretaker transport minister stated, authorities have closely monitored the updated situation, as aftershocks may cause further damages in affected areas. Thai soldiers from the 35th Military Development Unit (MDU) have, in the meantime, helped clear up damaged areas, especially those in Baan Dong Ma Da of Chiang Rai's Mae Lao District, a heaviest quake-devastated area, and also brought in a mobile water production vehicle and six water trucks into the area to provide affected victims with clean water supply. Rong Khun Temple, a most attractive site for international tourists in Chiang Rai, has reportedly re-opened for crowds of visitors, after its temporary closure for a thorough survey of damages from the powerful quake on last Monday evening. (TNA)