2ND LD: Quake-triggered tsunamis kill 34 in Myanmar

Asian Economic News, Dec 29, 2004

YANGON, Dec. 27 Kyodo

(EDS: UPDATING WITH GOVERNMENT FIGURES)

At least 34 people have died in Myanmar after tsunamis triggered by the world's worst earthquake in 40 years hit the country's southern coasts and islands Sunday, state-run media reported.

A brief radio report late Monday night for the first time since the disaster struck released casualty figures, saying 34 people died, 45 others were wounded and 25 are missing.

It said many buildings were destroyed and 17 coastal villages were flooded by tidal waves, leaving over 200 families homeless.

A foreign nongovernmental organization source earlier told Kyodo News that among the fatalities are 12 people who perished in a bridge collapse in Kawthaung, the southernmost of Myanmar towns that border Thailand.

Three people died in a building collapse at Bogalay, an Ayeyarwaddy (formerly Irrawaddy) Delta town located some 160 kilometers southwest of Yangon, while 15 died on an island at the mouth of Ayeyarwaddy River, the source said.

The source said many buildings in other towns in the delta, including Laboota and Haighgyi, were damaged by the quake.

Meanwhile, fisheries companies in Yangon said some of their fishing trawlers with crews on board are missing in the sea off the country's south.

The tsunami was triggered by a massive earthquake with a magnitude of 9.0.

Reuters earlier Monday quoted an Ministry of Relief and Resettlement official as saying at least three dozen people were killed by the tsunami when it hit Myanmar's Pyinzalu Island, which is on the mouth of Pyinzalu River, a tributary of the Ayeyarwaddy, about 225 km southwest of Yangon.