Survivors struggle in remote Myanmar quake areas

TARLAY, Myanmar : Survivors surveyed the wreckage of their Myanmar villages on Saturday as details of an earthquake that left 75 dead and reduced homes to rubble began to trickle out of remote areas.

The powerful 6.8 magnitude quake struck in the east of the country near the borders with Thailand and Laos late on Thursday and was felt as far away as the Vietnamese capital Hanoi.

Tachileik town and nearby Tarlay and Mong Lin in Myanmar's Shan state appeared to have been most severely affected by the quake, which flattened hundreds of houses and toppled monasteries and government buildings.

In Tarlay a few rescue teams were seen picking through the rubble of buildings, a bridge was destroyed and the roads were riven with huge cracks.

"The whole village is gone," said Nan Myint, tearfully explaining that she had lost her father, nephew and sister-in-law in the quake.

ORIGINAL SOURCE