Disaster zone declared in Lampang after 31 mild tremors
It’s been a week of mild shocks and tremors in Lampang province in northern Thailand. Although there has been no lives lost, there has been a lot of minor damage to structures, mainly in the north of the province.
The Wang Nua district, the northern-most district in Lampang province, north-east of Chiang Mai, has been now declared a disaster zone after it was hit with 31 mild earthquakes and aftershocks.
Pichet Ekparn, chief of the disaster alleviation division of Lampang Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Office, says the district was declared disaster zone so that government agencies could speed up efforts to help affected people.
UP to a hundred houses and some public buildings have been damaged as a result of the mild earthquakes with building cracks, falling tiles and cracked rendering being the worst of the damage.
The Seismological Bureau of the Meteorological Department says that a total of 31 quakes and aftershocks occurred in Wang Nua from Wednesday up to yesterday.
Lampang provincial governor Songpol Sawattham held an urgent meeting of agencies concerned and instructed them to survey the damage to provide aid immediately.
Wang Nua assistant district chief Bamrung Khamwai said an initial survey found 72 houses, four government offices and seven temples in seven tambon were damaged.
He said government officials have yet to completely evaluate the damage.
SOURCE: The Nation
