Reuters-Moderate earthquake rocks I

[hlaing@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx]

Moderate earthquake rocks India's northeast 
06:48 a.m. Oct 16, 1998 Eastern 

GUWAHATI, India, Oct 16 (Reuters) - An earthquake measuring 5.5 on the
Richter scale rocked India's mountainous northeastern region early on
Friday but there were no reports of deaths, a government official said. 

``We recorded the earthquake of moderate intensity and located its
epicentre in northern Myanmar's Sagaing division,'' the official at the
seismological office at Shillong, 100 km (60 miles) south of Guwahati, told
Reuters by phone. 

No deaths or damage to property had been reported so far, he added. 

An official of Myanmar's Meteorological and Hydrology department said his
office in Yangon had measured the quake at 4.7 on the Richter scale. He
also said no damage had been reported. 

Earthquakes of 4.0 to 5.0 on the Richter scale are powerful enough to cause
heavy damage in a populated area. 

``We don't think there will be damage to life and property because the area
of the epicentre is very sparsely populated,'' the Myanmar official said. 

He said the epicentre was near the town of Mawlaik, close to the Indian
border and about 400 km (250 miles) northwest of Yangon. 

The official said another small earthquake measuring 2.8 on the Richter
scale with its epicentre just 48 km (30 miles) south of Yangon occured at
2.26 p.m. (0754 GMT) on Friday but no damage had been reported.