3. - usaid

CHARAmRLSTICS OF THE DISASTER
m: Fire
DATE-TIME: March 30, 1969 at 1:OO PM
EATION:
Sagaing
DISASTER VICTIMS: Killed nameless
11 7 LIE;
PROPERIY DAMAGES: Houses Destroyed - 1,524
In addition to homes the following buildings were
destroyed: State High School, 3 State Primary
Schools, Railway Station, 3 Cinema Halls,
Peoples1 Shops, Trade Corporation Office and
Government Offices
Estimated dollar damage to property $2,688,976
DESCRIPTION OF THE DISASTER
(31 Sunday, March 30, 1969, at 1:00 PM a
devastating fire gutted Sagaing, a few miles
below Mandalay and the headquarters town of
Sagaing Division, destroymg more than half
the town.
The blaze originated at a b:icycle repair shop
in the heart of the town when a blow lamp
exploded, igniting a kerosene tin nearby.
With the temperature well over 100 degrees F
and a strong wind blowing, 'the fire spread
rapidly from the center of the town to the
east bank of the Imawaddy imd soon was a
blazing inferno. Mr. Verne Mckey , American
Consul, Mandalay, by courtesy of a bion of
Burma Airways pilot on a f1:tght to Rangoon,
was allowed to fly over the town when the fire
was at its height. In his report to the
American Embassy, Rangoon, he wrote: "1