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BANGKOK (AP) – A 7.7 magnitude earthquake shook at noon in Thailand and neighbouring Myanmar on Friday, killing at least two people in Bangkok, filling unknown numbers when the skyscrapers under construction collapsed, urging Myanmar to declare a widespread state of emergency.
The daytime rabid, whose epicenter is near Mandalay, Myanmar’s second largest city, was followed by strong aftershocks of 6.4 magnitude.
Rescuers work on the site of a skyscraper building that collapsed after the 7.7 magnitude earthquake in Bangkok, Thailand on Friday, March 28, 2025 (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)
Myanmar’s military management government has declared states of emergency in six regions and states, including the capitals Nepitau and Mandalay, but it was not clear how many regions could get help in a country in the midst of a long, bloody civil war.
The Red Cross said it adds to the challenges of teams trying to reach the Mandalay and Sagar regions and South Shan Province.
“The initial report from the ground suggests that the earthquake caused serious damage,” the Red Cross said. “Information about humanitarian needs is still being collected.”
The crane top building collapsed in a cloud of dust
In Bangkok, a construction worker was killed when a tile ble from the scene of a collapsed building crashed into his truck and another person was crushed by debris, rescuer Song Wang Pong told reporters.
Another seven were found alive on the site, but an unknown number remains under the tiled rub. This is still too unstable for emergency crews to start looking for now, he said.
A dramatic video of the collapse of a building near Bangkok’s popular Chatuchak market, which is spreading on social media, showed a multi-story building with a crane on top of collapsed in a cloud of dust as onlookers ran screaming.
Elsewhere, people who were evacuated from the buildings were warned to stay outside in case of an increase in aftershocks.
According to a preliminary report, the US Geological Survey and the GFZ Center for Geosciences in Germany said the earthquake was 10 kilometers (6.2 miles).
Screams and panic as the building sways
Sounds echoed through the heart of Bangkok, vehicles filled the streets and resilient parts of the city’s already crowded streets. The rapid transit system and subways have been closed.
City Hall has declared the city a disaster area to promote inter-ministerial aid and emergency assistance. The Greater Bangkok area has over 17 million people, many of whom live in high-rise apartments.
Working in an office building in Bangkok’s city centre, Cranichawanakuru in April didn’t realize it was an earthquake at first. “I thought I was dizzy,” she said.
She and her colleagues ran downstairs from the building’s 10th floor Tonson Tower, waiting for a signal that they were safe.
“All of a sudden the whole building started moving. There was a quick cry and panic,” said Fraser Morton, a Scottish tourist.
“I started to calm down and walk at first, but the building really started moving.
Like Morton, thousands of people poured from their apartments into Benjasiri Park along nearby shopping malls, skyscrapers and busy Suhumbit Road in Bangkok.
Many were trying to reach their loved ones as others sought shade from the hot afternoon sun. Others stared in fear at the tall buildings in the dense parts of the city.
“I went outside, looked up at the building, the whole building was moving, dust and debris. It was pretty intense,” Morton said. “A lot of confusion.”
Voranoot Thirawat, a lawyer working in central Bangkok, said her first indication that something was wrong when she saw the light shaking back and forth. She then heard the creaking sound of the building as she moved back and forth from the shock wave.
She and her colleagues ran down the stairs of flight 12. “In my lifetime, there have been no earthquakes like this in Bangkok,” she said.
Paul Vincent, a tourist from England, was in a bar on the street when the earthquake struck.
“Next, everyone came on the street, so there was a lot of screaming and panic.
When he came to the street himself, he said he saw a skyscraper shaking and falling from the rooftop pool.
“When I saw the building, what a god, when… it hit me,” he said. “There were people crying on the streets, and the panic was really scary.”
Bridge collapsed in Myanmar and reported injuries in China
In Mandalay, the second largest city in Myanmar and close to the epicenter, the earthquake damaged parts of the former royal palace and buildings, according to videos and photos released on Facebook’s social media.
Although the area is prone to earthquakes, it is generally sparsely populated and most homes are low-rise.
In the Sagar area southwest of Mandalay, the 90-year-old bridge collapsed, and several sections of the highway connecting Mandalay to Yangon, Myanmar’s largest city, have also been damaged.
Yangon residents ran out of their homes when the earthquake struck. There were no immediate reports of injuries or deaths.
In the capital, naypyitaw, the earthquake destroyed religious shrines, sending parts and several homes that fell to the ground.
In the northeast, earthquakes were felt in China’s Yunnan and Sichuan provinces, causing damage to Luli’s homes and injuries on the border with Myanmar, according to Chinese media reports.
A video that an outlet said it had received from a Ruri person showed them moving around on a stretcher towards the debris scattered across the street and ambulance.
The shaking in Mansi, a Chinese city about 100 kilometers (60 miles) northeast of Ruri, is extremely strong and people can’t stand it, a resident told the online media outlet, Paper.
A resident of Kunming, Yunnan’s regional capital, told the paper that her ceiling lamps shaking violently and the shaking lasted for more than 10 seconds.
Thailand’s Disaster Prevention Bureau said the earthquake was felt in almost every part of the country.
Prime Minister Paetong Tarun Sinawatra called an emergency meeting to assess the impact of the earthquake.
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