earthquake swarm devastates myanmar after obama’s arrival
under reported views and news Myanmar’s government welcomes Obama’s historic visit
YANGON, Myanmar (AP) — Myanmar’s government said last week that it “warmly welcomes” President Barack Obama’s decision to visit the country this month, saying it will increase the momentum of democratic reform.
Obama will become the first U.S. president to visit the onetime pariah nation, which is emerging from decades of military rule.
Presidential office spokesman Maj. Zaw Htay says he believes the “support and encouragement by the U.S. president and American people will strengthen the commitment of President Thein Sein’s reform process to move forward without backtracking.”
Zaw Htay said in a statement Friday that the government hopes “bilateral relations and cooperation will significantly increase after this historic visit.”
During his Nov. 17-20 trip, Obama will also travel to Thailand and Cambodia, the latter another first for a U.S. president.
Meanwhile, nine foreign embassies in Myanmar issued an unusual joint statement to push for assistance to residents of the strife-torn western state of Rakhine.
The planned visit comes as ethnic tension in Rakhine has caused international concern, threatening to slow the tide of goodwill toward Thein Sein’s elected government, which is modernizing and liberalizing the government after almost five decades of repressive military rule.
Almost 200 people have died since June in fighting between the Buddhist Rakhine and Muslim Rohingya communities. More than 100,000 have been made homeless and are living in ramshackle refugee camps scattered around the state.
Quake causes heavy damage in Myanmar
A magnitude-6.8 earthquake struck northern Myanmar on Sunday, collapsing a bridge and a gold mine, damaging several old Buddhist pagodas and leaving at least 12 people dead.
A slow release of official information left the extent of the damage from Sunday morning’s quake unclear. Myanmar, also known as Burma, has a poor official disaster response system, despite having lost more than 140,000 people to a cyclone in 2008.
Myanmar’s second-biggest city, Mandalay, reported no casualties or major damage. Mandalay, the nearest major population center to the quake, lies 72 miles south of the epicenter near the town of Shwebo. Smaller towns near the epicenter were hit harder.
The region is a center for mining of minerals and gemstones, and several mines were reported to have collapsed.
State television showed Vice President Sai Maul Hkam visiting the town of Thabeikyin, where the report said damage included 102 homes, 21 religious buildings, 48 government offices and four schools. The U.S. Geological Survey reported a magnitude-5.8 aftershock later Sunday, but there were no initial reports of new damage or casualties.
from cbs springfield
strong quake strikes Myanmar, 12 feared dead
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2012-11-15 01:40:11
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