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BANGKOK -- A almighty earthquake rocked Thailand and neighboring Myanmar connected Friday, sidesplitting astatine slightest 3 radical successful Bangkok and burying dozens erstwhile a high-rise gathering nether operation collapsed. Footage shared connected societal media from Myanmar's second-largest metropolis showed wide destruction, raising fears that galore were trapped nether the rubble oregon killed.
The 7.7 magnitude quake, with an epicenter adjacent Mandalay successful Myanmar, struck astatine midday and was followed by a beardown 6.4 magnitude aftershock.
The grade of the death, wounded and demolition - particularly successful Myanmar, which is embroiled successful a brutal civilian warfare that has already caused a wide humanitarian situation - was not yet clear. Myanmar's authorities said humor was successful precocious request successful the hardest-hit areas, and videos from the state showed aggregate collapsed houses and buckled and cracked roads.
Rescuers enactment astatine the tract of a high-rise gathering nether operation that collapsed aft a 7.7 magnitude earthquake successful Bangkok, Thailand, Friday, March 28, 2025.
AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit
A melodramatic video of the building's illness adjacent Bangkok's fashionable Chatuchak marketplace showed the multistory gathering with a crane connected apical toppling into a unreality of dust, portion onlookers screamed and ran.
The dependable of sirens echoed passim cardinal Bangkok and vehicles filled the streets, leaving immoderate of the city's already congested streets gridlocked. The elevated accelerated transit strategy and subway were unopen down.
While the country wherever the quake struck is prone to earthquakes, they are usually not truthful large and it is uncommon for them to felt successful the Thai capital.
April Kanichawanakul, who works successful an bureau gathering successful Bangkok's metropolis center, astatine archetypal didn't adjacent recognize it was an earthquake, the archetypal she'd ever experienced. "I conscionable thought I was dizzy," she said.
She and her colleagues ran downstairs from the 10th level of their gathering and waited extracurricular for a awesome that it was harmless to spell backmost in.
Myanmar's military-run authorities declared a authorities of exigency successful six regions and states including the superior Naypyitaw and Mandalay. It was not wide what the declaration meant since the full state has been nether a authorities of exigency since 2021, erstwhile the service seized power. Given the civilian war, it was besides not wide however assistance would get to galore regions.
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The Red Cross said downed powerfulness lines added to challenges for their teams trying to scope Mandalay and Sagaing regions and confederate Shan state.
"Initial reports from the crushed suggest the earthquake has caused important damage," the Red Cross said. "Information connected humanitarian needs is inactive being gathered."
Crane-topped gathering collapsed successful a unreality of dust
In Bangkok, a operation idiosyncratic was killed erstwhile rubble from the collapsing gathering tract deed his motortruck and different was crushed by the falling debris, rescue idiosyncratic Songwut Wangpon told reporters.
Defense Minister Phumtham Wechayachai said successful each 3 radical were killed astatine the tract and 90 were missing. He offered nary much details astir the ongoing rescue efforts but archetypal responders said that 7 radical had been rescued truthful acold from the area.
Rescue workers accidental the rubble is inactive excessively unstable for them to effort and find radical perchance trapped beneath.
Elsewhere, radical successful Bangkok evacuated from their buildings were cautioned to enactment extracurricular successful lawsuit determination were much aftershocks.
The U.S. Geological Survey and Germany's GFZ halfway for geosciences said the earthquake was a shallow 10 kilometers (6.2 miles), according to preliminary reports. Shallower earthquakes thin to origin much damage.
Screaming and panic arsenic buildings swayed
Bangkok's metropolis hallway declared the metropolis a catastrophe country to facilitate interagency assistance and exigency help. The greater Bangkok country is location to much than 17 cardinal people, galore of whom unrecorded successful high-rise apartments.
"All of a abrupt the full gathering began to move. Immediately determination was screaming and a batch of panic," said Fraser Morton, a tourer from Scotland, who was successful 1 of Bangkok's galore malls.
"I conscionable started walking calmly astatine archetypal but past the gathering started truly moving, yeah, a batch of screaming, a batch of panic, radical moving the incorrect mode down the escalators, tons of banging and crashing wrong the mall."
Like Morton, thousands of radical poured into Benjasiri Park from adjacent buying malls, precocious rises and flat buildings on Bangkok's engaged Sukhumvit Road.
Many were connected phones trying to scope loved ones arsenic others sought shadiness from the blistery aboriginal day sun. Others stared up fearfully astatine the gangly buildings successful the densely packed portion of the city.
"I got extracurricular and past looked up astatine the gathering and the full gathering was moving, particulate and debris, it was beauteous intense," Morton said. "Lots of chaos."
Voranoot Thirawat, a lawyer moving successful cardinal Bangkok, said her archetypal denotation that thing was incorrect came erstwhile she saw a airy swinging backmost and forth. Then she heard the gathering creaking arsenic it moved backmost and forth.
She and her colleagues ran down 12 flights of stairs. "In my lifetime, determination was nary earthquake similar this successful Bangkok," she said.
Paul Vincent, a tourer visiting from England, was astatine a streetside barroom erstwhile the quake struck.
"The adjacent thing, everybody came connected the street, truthful determination was a batch of screaming and panicking, which evidently made it a batch worse," helium said.
As helium came onto the thoroughfare himself, helium said helium saw a high-rise gathering swaying and h2o falling from a rooftop pool.
"When I saw the building, ohio my God, that's erstwhile ... it deed me," helium said. "There was radical crying successful the streets and, you know, the panic was horrendous really."
Bridge collapses successful Myanmar and injuries reported successful China
In Mandalay, the earthquake damaged portion of the erstwhile royal palace and buildings, according to videos and photos released connected Facebook societal media.
While the country is prone to earthquakes, it is mostly sparsely populated, and astir houses are low-rise structures.
In the Sagaing portion conscionable southwest of Mandalay, a 90-year-old span collapsed, and immoderate sections of the road connecting Mandalay and Myanmar's largest city, Yangon, were besides damaged.
Residents successful Yangon rushed retired of their homes erstwhile the quake struck. There were nary contiguous reports of injuries oregon deaths.
In the superior Naypyitaw, the quake damaged spiritual shrines, sending parts toppling to the ground, and immoderate homes.
Maj. Gen. Zaw Min Tun, the subject government's spokesperson, told authorities tv MRTV that humor was successful precocious request successful the hospitals successful earthquakes-hit areas, particularly Mandalay, Sagaing, and Naypyitaw. He urged humor donors to interaction the hospitals arsenic soon arsenic possible.
To the northeast, the earthquake was felt successful Yunnan and Sichuan provinces successful China and caused harm to houses and injuries successful the metropolis of Ruili connected the borderline with Myanmar, according to Chinese media reports.
Videos that 1 outlet said it had received from a idiosyncratic successful Ruili showed gathering debris littering a thoroughfare and a idiosyncratic being wheeled successful a stretcher toward an ambulance.
The shaking successful Mangshi, a Chinese metropolis astir 100 kilometers (60 miles) northeast of Ruili, was truthful beardown that radical couldn't stand, 1 nonmigratory told The Paper, an online media outlet.
A nonmigratory of Kunming, the provincial superior of Yunnan, told The Paper that her ceiling lamp was swinging wildly and the shaking lasted much than 10 seconds.
Thailand's Department of Disaster Prevention said the quake was felt successful astir each regions of the country.
Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra called an exigency gathering to measure the interaction of the quake.
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