Powerful 7.7 magnitude earthquake rocks Thailand and Myanmar

A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand on Friday, destroying buildings, a bridge, and a dam. At least 144 people were killed in Myanmar, where photos and videos from two hard-hit cities showed extensive damage. At least eight died in the Thai capital, where a high-rise under construction collapsed.

The 7.7 magnitude quake, with an epicenter near Mandalay, Myanmar‘s second largest city, struck at midday and was followed by a strong 6.4 magnitude aftershock.

The full extent of death, injury, and destruction was not immediately clear — particularly in Myanmar, one of the world’s poorest countries. It is embroiled in a civil war, and information is tightly controlled.

The head of Myanmar’s military government said in the televised speech on Friday evening that at least 144 people were killed and 730 others were injured.

“The death toll and injuries are expected to rise,” Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing said.

Earthquake in Southeast Asia

A dramatic video of the building’s collapse near Bangkok’s popular Chatuchak market showed the multistory building with a crane on top toppling into a cloud of dust while onlookers screamed and ran.

Image Provided By: Associated Press

The sound of sirens echoed throughout central Bangkok, and vehicles filled the streets, leaving some of the city’s already congested streets gridlocked. The elevated rapid transit system and subway were shut down.

While the area where the quake struck is prone to earthquakes, they are usually not so big, and it is rare for them to be felt in the Thai capital.

April Kanichawanakul, who works in an office building in Bangkok’s city center, at first didn’t even realize it was an earthquake, the first she’d ever experienced. “I just thought I was dizzy,” she said.

She and her colleagues ran downstairs from the 10th floor of their building and waited outside for a signal that it was safe to go back in.

Myanmar’s military-run government declared a state of emergency in six regions and states, including the capital, Naypyitaw, and Mandalay. It was not clear what the declaration meant since the entire country has been under a state of emergency since 2021, when the army seized power. Given the civil war, it was also not clear how help would get to many regions.

Image Provided By: Associated Press

The Red Cross said downed power lines added to challenges for their teams trying to reach Mandalay and Sagaing regions and southern Shan state.

“Initial reports from the ground suggest the earthquake has caused significant damage,” the Red Cross said. “Information on humanitarian needs is still being gathered.”

Crane-topped building collapsed in a cloud of dust

In Bangkok, a construction worker was killed when rubble from the collapsing building site hit his truck and another was crushed by the falling debris, rescue worker Songwut Wangpon told reporters.

Image Provided By: Associated Press

Defense Minister Phumtham Wechayachai said overall three people were killed at the site and 90 were missing. He offered no more details about the ongoing rescue efforts, but first responders said that seven people had been rescued so far from the area.

Rescue workers say the rubble is still too unstable for them to try and find people possibly trapped beneath.

Elsewhere, people in Bangkok evacuated from their buildings were cautioned to stay outside in case there were more aftershocks.

The U.S. Geological Survey and Germany’s GFZ center for geosciences said the earthquake was a shallow 10 kilometers (6.2 miles), according to preliminary reports. Shallower earthquakes tend to cause more damage.

Screaming and panic as buildings swayed

Bangkok’s city hall declared the city a disaster area to facilitate interagency aid and emergency help. The greater Bangkok area is home to more than 17 million people, many of whom live in high-rise apartments.

“All of a sudden, the whole building began to move. Immediately, there was screaming and a lot of panic,” said Fraser Morton, a tourist from Scotland, who was in one of Bangkok’s many malls.

“I just started walking calmly at first, but then the building started really moving, yeah, a lot of screaming, a lot of panic, people running the wrong way down the escalators, lots of banging and crashing inside the mall.”

Like Morton, thousands of people poured into Benjasiri Park from nearby shopping malls, high rises, and apartment buildings along Bangkok’s busy Sukhumvit Road.

Many were on phones trying to reach loved ones as others sought shade from the hot early afternoon sun. Others stared up fearfully at the tall buildings in the densely packed part of the city.

“I got outside and then looked up at the building and the whole building was moving, dust and debris, it was pretty intense,” Morton said. “Lots of chaos.”

Voranoot Thirawat, a lawyer working in central Bangkok, said her first indication that something was wrong came when she saw a light swinging back and forth. Then she heard the building creaking as it moved back and forth.

She and her colleagues ran down 12 flights of stairs. “In my lifetime, there was no earthquake like this in Bangkok,” she said.

Paul Vincent, a tourist visiting from England, was at a streetside bar when the quake struck.

Image Provided By: Associated Press

“The next thing, everybody came on the street, so there was a lot of screaming and panicking, which obviously made it a lot worse,” he said.

As he came onto the street himself, he said he saw a high-rise building swaying and water falling from a rooftop pool.

“When I saw the building, oh my God, that’s when ... it hit me,” he said. “There was people crying in the streets and, you know, the panic was horrendous really.”

Bridge collapses in Myanmar and injuries reported in China

In Mandalay, the earthquake damaged part of the former royal palace and buildings, according to videos and photos released on Facebook social media.

While the area is prone to earthquakes, it is largely sparsely populated, and most houses are low-rise structures.

In the Sagaing region just southwest of Mandalay, a 90-year-old bridge collapsed, and some sections of the highway connecting Mandalay and Myanmar’s largest city, Yangon, were also damaged.

Residents in Yangon rushed out of their homes when the quake struck. There were no immediate reports of injuries or deaths.

In the capital, Naypyitaw, the quake damaged religious shrines, sending parts toppling to the ground, and some homes.

Maj. Gen. Zaw Min Tun, the military government’s spokesperson, told state television MRTV that blood was in high demand in the hospitals in earthquake-hit areas, especially Mandalay, Sagaing, and Naypyitaw. He urged blood donors to contact the hospitals as soon as possible.

To the northeast, the earthquake was felt in Yunnan and Sichuan provinces in China and caused damage to houses and injuries in the city of Ruili on the border with Myanmar, according to Chinese media reports.

Videos that one outlet said it had received from a person in Ruili showed building debris littering a street and a person being wheeled in a stretcher toward an ambulance.

The shaking in Mangshi, a Chinese city about 100 kilometers (60 miles) northeast of Ruili, was so strong that people couldn’t stand, one resident told The Paper, an online media outlet.

A resident of Kunming, the provincial capital of Yunnan, told The Paper that her ceiling lamp was swinging wildly and the shaking lasted more than 10 seconds.

Thailand’s Department of Disaster Prevention said the quake was felt in almost all regions of the country.

Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra called an emergency meeting to assess the impact of the quake.