One dead, 23 injured in Thai quake: official

BANGKOK: An elderly woman died and 23 other people were injured after a strong earthquake shook northern Thailand, an official said Tuesday, as aftershocks continued to rattle the mountainous region popular with tourists.

The 83-year-old woman died when a wall in her house collapsed after the 6.0-magnitude struck quake on Monday afternoon, according to an official at the Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Department in Bangkok. "Twenty-three people were also injured in separate incidents caused by the quake," the official told AFP, without giving further details.

The quake, which struck at a shallow depth of just 7.4 kilometres (4.5 miles), had its epicentre in the remote Phan district of Chiang Rai province, geologists said, and was felt hundreds of miles to the south in Bangkok and even in Myanmar´s commercial capital Yangon.

"Since last evening (Monday) there were six large aftershocks with a magnitude between 5.0 to 5.9 and the last was this morning," Burin Wechbunthung, of the Meteorological Department told, adding there were a dozen smaller tremors.

Residents on Monday said they had seen cracked building facades, broken shop windows and damage to roads, while power was cut for several hours in Phan.

The area is a remote mountain retreat near the border with Myanmar and Laos and popular with foreign visitors. The quake was felt in the tourist hub city of Chiang Mai 160 kilometres (100 miles) southwest of Chiang Rai and as far away as Bangkok, 800 kilometres to the south, where tall buildings shook for several seconds.

Major earthquakes are rare in Thailand, although tremors often strike the north of the country.

 

6.5-magnitude quake strikes off Tonga: USGS

WELLINGTON: A strong 6.5-magnitude earthquake struck off the Pacific nation of Tonga on Saturday, the US Geological Survey said, but there was no immediate tsunami warning or reports of significant damage.

The quake hit at 6:02 pm (0602 GMT), 71 kilometres (44 miles) from the Tongan capital Nuku´alofa at a shallow depth of 10 kilometres, the USGS said.

Powerful 7.6 quake strikes off Solomon Islands: USGS

SYDNEY: A powerful 7.6-magnitude earthquake struck off the Solomon Islands early Sunday, US officials said, while the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission put out a tsunami warning for the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, and Papua New Guinea.

The US Geological Survey said the quake was measured at a depth of around 29 kilometres (18 miles) and was about 300 kilometres from Solomon Islands´ capital Honiara.

New 6.6-magnitude quake hits Nicaragua

MANAGUA: A 6.6-magnitude earthquake hit Nicaragua´s Pacific region on Friday, one day after a quake of similar magnitude in the area left one person dead.

An initial official report said the new earthquake had caused no known deaths or damage. The quake struck at 2:29 pm (2029 GMT) at a depth of 138 kilometers (86 miles), according to the US Geological Survey. The epicenter was 24 kilometers south of Granada and 56 kilometers southeast of the capital Managua, the USGS said.

Tremors were felt as far away as neighboring El Salvador and Costa Rica´s northern Guanacaste province.

Thursday´s 6.1-magnitude quake, also centered in the Pacific coast region of Nicaragua, killed one person, left 33 people injured and damaged more than 800 homes, the government said.