Several killed as rare tornado rips through villages near Myanmar capital

A tornado that tore through two villages in central Myanmar near the capital Naypyitaw has killed eight people and destroyed more than 200 houses, according to a rescue worker.

The tornado hit Aung Myin Kone and Tadau villages on Naypyitaw’s southern outskirts at around 1240 GMT (6:10 pm local) on Friday, according to Thet Paing Soe, a leading member of the Doh Lewe charity organisation.

He said local charity organisations had transported 128 people to hospitals, and 232 houses in the two villages were destroyed.

“The tornado blew for approximately 40 minutes. Almost all the houses in the villages are quite badly damaged. The restoration will take months,” Paing Soe added.

Major tornadoes are rare in Myanmar.

However, tornadoes of a size that rarely cause death and serious damage often occur in the summer and pre-monsoon periods when the temperature rises, said Kyaw Moe Oo, the director-general at the Department of Meteorology and Hydrology.

“During this period, there are frequent tornadoes in the lower parts of Myanmar, but there are few casualties. These kinds of fatalities in central Myanmar are rare,” he said.

Myanmar experiences extreme weather virtually every year during the monsoon season. In 2008, Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 people.

State-run MRTV television reported that Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, the head of Myanmar’s military-installed government, visited the disaster area on Saturday and provided aid to the residents.

The report said that two Buddhist monasteries and a small clinic were among the structures destroyed.

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