NU Online News Service, March 25, 2:17 p.m. EDT
A magnitude 6.8 earthquake shook a sparsely populated area of Myanmar on March 24.
According to catastrophe modeler Risk Management Solutions, the area most affected was the town of Tachileik, near the border of Thailand.
Reports say about 250 houses were damaged by the shallow earthquake, along with more than a dozen Buddhist monasteries and nine government buildings. Roads and bridges were also affected.
At least 70 have been killed and more than 100 are reportedly injured.
Insurance implications are not clear. Mark Farmaner, director of Burma Campaign UK, says the area, known for drug trafficking, is mostly comprised of farms with bamboo houses. There are also some dams in the vicinity, but no damages have yet to be reported.
Burma Campaign UK says it works to promote human rights, democracy and development in Burma, officially the Union of Myanmar. Several years ago the group published "Insuring Repression," which exposed how insurers allegedly helped to facilitate the country's military dictatorship.
"Insurers helped to fund the abuses," Farmaner says.
Currently U.S. sanctions on Myanmar forbid companies from providing insurance there. Relations between the U.S. and Myanmar have declined due to a "general disregard by the Burmese military for the human rights and civil liberties of the people of Burma," says a report prepared for Congress.
After the Burma Campaign report, some insurers pulled out of the market, but Lloyd's of London continued to come under fire and Aon Corp. in the United Kingdom was fined $8 million by British regulators for questionable payments overseas to Myanmar and other countries.
A spokesperson for Lloyd's said in 2009 that the insurance market has a limited amount of business written in Burma.
Click on the next page for images from the scene.
In this photo released by Democratic Voice of Burma, a resident looks into a crack in a road caused by an earthquake in Tarlay, Shan state, Myanmar, Friday, March 25, 2011. The Thursday night quake, measured at a magnitude 6.8 by the U.S. Geological Survey, toppled homes in northeastern Myanmar and killed dozens of people. (AP Photo/DVB, Alinyaung)
In this photo released by Democratic Voice of Burma, officials stand in front of a building destroyed by an earthquake in Tarlay, Shan state, Myanmar, Friday, March 25, 2011. (AP Photo/DVB, Alinyaung)
In this photo released by Democratic Voice of Burma, a soldier stands in front of a house destroyed by an earthquake in Tarlay, Shan state, Myanmar, Friday, March 25, 2011. The Thursday night quake, measured at a magnitude 6.8 by the U.S. Geological Survey, toppled homes in northeastern Myanmar and killed dozens of people. (AP Photo/DVB, Alinyaung)
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