Thailand and Myanmar are rocked by a 7.7-magnitude earthquake.
around least three people were killed in Bangkok and others were buried when a high-rise building under construction collapsed during Friday’s 7.7-magnitude earthquake that shook Thailand and neighboring Myanmar around noon. Myanmar has declared a general state of emergency.
A powerful aftershock of a magnitude of 6.4 followed the lunchtime earthquake, which had its epicenter close to Mandalay, the second-largest city in Myanmar.
Although Myanmar’s military-run government proclaimed a state of emergency in six states and regions, including Mandalay and the capital Naypyitaw, it was unclear how aid would reach many of these areas given the country’s protracted, brutal civil conflict.
Downed power lines, according to the Red Cross, are making it more difficult for their teams to get to southern Shan state and the Mandalay and Sagaing districts.
The Red Cross stated, “First reports from the ground indicate the earthquake has caused significant damage.” “Humanitarian needs data is still being collected.”
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A structure with a crane on top fell in a dust cloud.
Rescue worker Songwut Wangpon told reporters that a construction worker in Bangkok was killed after debris from the collapsed building site struck his truck and crushed another.
According to Defense Minister Phumtham Wechayachai,90 individuals are still unaccounted for and three people were slain at the scene. Although first responders reported that seven individuals had been recovered from outside the collapsed building thus far,he provided no other information regarding the ongoing rescue operations.
According to rescuers,the debris is still too unstable for them to search for anyone who might be trapped there.
A multi-story structure with a crane on top collapsed into a cloud of dust as bystanders shouted and fled in a dramatic video that went viral on social media near Bangkok’s well-known Chatuchak market.
In Bangkok,those who were evacuated from their buildings were advised to remain outside in case additional aftershocks occurred.
According to early assessments,the earthquake was a shallow 10 kilometers (6.2 miles),according to the U.S. Geological Survey and Germany’s GFZ center for geosciences.
Panic and screaming as structures wobbled
Some of Bangkok’s already congested roadways were gridlocked as cars flooded the streets and sirens reverberated across the city center. Both the subway and the elevated rapid transit system were closed.
In order to expedite emergency and interagency assistance,city hall designated the city as a disaster area. Over 17 million people live in the greater Bangkok area, with many of them residing in high-rise apartments.
Working in an office building in the heart of Bangkok, April Kanichawanakul initially failed to recognize that it was an earthquake—the first she had ever experienced. She remarked,”I just thought I was dizzy.”
From the tenth level of their building,Tonson Tower,she and her coworkers rushed downstairs and waited outside for an indication that it was safe to return.
Suddenly,the entire building started to shift. “There was screaming and a lot of panic right away,” said Fraser Morton, a Scottish visitor who was looking for photography gear in one of Bangkok’s many malls.
“At first, I just started walking calmly, but then the building started to move really quickly.There was a lot of screaming,panic,people running down the escalators in the wrong direction,and a lot of banging and crashing inside the mall.”
Similar to Morton,thousands of people from surrounding malls,skyscrapers,and apartment complexes along Bangkok’s bustling Sukhumvit Road flocked to Benjasiri Park.
While some people sought cover from the sweltering early afternoon sun, many others were on the phone, attempting to contact loved ones. with the crowded area of the city, others gazed up at the lofty skyscrapers with terror.
“I went outside and looked up at the building, and it was really intense—the whole building was moving, with dust and debris all over it,” Morton recalled. “A lot of chaos.”
The first sign that something was off,according to Voranoot Thirawat,a lawyer in central Bangkok,was a light that was swinging back and forth. The building then shifted back and forth from the shockwaves,and she heard it creak.
She rushed down twelve flights of stairs with her coworkers. “I have never experienced an earthquake like this in Bangkok in my lifetime,” she remarked.
When the earthquake occurred, Paul Vincent, an English tourist, was at a bar on the street.
“It was obviously made much worse when everyone came on the street the next thing,” he said. “There was a lot of screaming and panicking.”
He claimed to have seen water dripping from a rooftop pool and a swaying high-rise building as he first entered the roadway.
“Oh my God,it hit me when I saw the building,”he remarked. “You know,the panic was terrible,and there were people crying in the streets.”
China reports injuries after bridge collapses in Myanmar
Videos and images posted on Facebook social media show that the earthquake near the epicenter in Mandalay,Myanmar’s second-largest city, damaged parts of the former royal palace and other structures.
The majority of the homes are low-rise buildings,and although the area is prone to earthquakes,it is typically lightly populated.
A 90-year-old bridge fell in the Sagaing region,southwest of Mandalay,and parts of the highway that connects Mandalay to Yangon,the largest city in Myanmar,were also destroyed.
When the tremor hit, people in Yangon hurried from their houses. No early reports of fatalities or injuries were made.
The earthquake in the capital, Naypyitaw, destroyed some homes and damaged religious shrines, hurling pieces of them to the ground.
Chinese media reported that the earthquake,which was felt in China’s Yunnan and Sichuan provinces to the northeast,damaged homes and injured people in the city of Ruili,which is located on the Myanmar border.
One site claimed to have received videos from someone in Ruili that showed a victim being transported in a stretcher toward an ambulance and building wreckage strewn across a street.
One local informed online media site The Paper that the shaking in Mangshi,a Chinese city located roughly 100 kilometers (60 miles) northeast of Ruili,was so intense that people couldn’t tolerate it.
According to a resident of Kunming,the provincial capital of Yunnan,her ceiling lamp was swinging violently and trembling for over ten seconds,as reported by The Paper.
According to Thailand’s Department of Disaster Prevention, the earthquake was felt practically everywhere in the nation.
An emergency conference was held by Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra to evaluate the earthquake’s effects.
Contributions to this story came from Adam Schreck, Haruka Naga, Jerry Harmer, Grant Peck and Penny Wang in Bangkok, Jamey Keaten in Geneva, and Ken Moritsugu in Beijing.