March 24, 2011
The impoverished Southeast Asian country of Myanmar, known as Burma under British rule, is somewhat off the beaten path in terms of American news consumption and rarely makes headlines. So when it was struck by a powerful earthquake today, AOL News thought it would take a moment to offer up a quick list of key facts about the resource-rich but harshly ruled nation.
It was struck by a 6.8-magnitude earthquake today. There were no reports of deaths or major destruction in the country, but in Myanmar, where a repressive government restricts virtually every source of news, accurate information can be hard to come by, and multiple news organizations reported that residents hundreds of miles away in Thailand and even Vietnam felt shaking.
The U.S. Geological Survey said today the initial earthquake hit in the eastern part of Myanmar, near the Thai border, just before 10 a.m. EDT, and was quickly followed by two aftershocks, one of 4.8 magnitude and the other 5.4. Don Blakeman, a geophysicist for the USGS, told AOL News today by phone that the earthquake was too far inland to cause a tsunami.
It's run by a military junta. Myanmar, which gained independence from England in 1948, has been ruled by a brutal military junta since 1962, when the democratically elected government was overthrown.
The junta has retained power through corrupt elections in 1990 and 2010, along with the brutal repression of democratic movements and assassination of political enemies. Gen. Than Shwe and newly elected President Thein Sein are believed to be in charge.
It's home to Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi. The Nobel laureate is the internationally known head of Myanmar's leading pro-democracy opposition party, the National League for Democracy. She lived under house arrest for 20 years until her release in November. Check out her Facebook page.
It has oil. Myanmar is oil rich and attracts investment by foreign oil companies from around the world. Those investments came under scrutiny in 2007, when the Myanmar regime waged a violent crackdown on pro-democracy activists, and a number of foreign oil companies, including U.S.-based Chevron, refused to stop operating. Chevron said it sponsored humanitarian programs in the country, but critics accused the company of supporting the military junta.
... But its people are desperately poor. More than 30 percent of the country's 54 million people are living in poverty, according to the CIA. It's also suffering from a burgeoning HIV/AIDS crisis. An estimated 240,000 people in the country are thought to be infected with HIV, according to Doctors Without Borders.