BANGKOK — 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 video 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.
Photos from the capital of Naypyidaw showed multiple
buildings used to house civil servants destroyed by the quake, and rescue crews
pulling victims from the rubble.
Myanmar’s government said blood was in high demand in the
hardest-hit areas. Images of buckled and cracked roads in Mandalay and damaged
highways as well as the collapse of a bridge and dam raised further concerns
about how rescuers would even reach some areas in a country already enduring a
widespread humanitarian crisis.
Near Bangkok’s popular Chatuchak market, a 33-story building
under construction, with a crane on top, crumpled into a cloud of dust, and
onlookers could be seen screaming and running in a video posted on social
media.
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 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, which sits on a river delta and is at moderate risk for
quakes.
April Kanichawanakul, who works in an office building in
Bangkok, initially 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.
Crane-topped building collapsed in a cloud of dust
In Bangkok, at least three people were killed in the
building collapse and 90 were missing, according to Defense Minister Phumtham
Wechayachai. 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.
At least two of the dead were construction workers who were
killed by falling rubble or debris, rescue worker Songwut Wangpon told
reporters. The building was being built by the China Railway Construction
Corporation for Thailand’s government auditor general.
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 the response. The greater metropolitan 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.”
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.
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.
Bridge and monastery collapse and dam bursts in Myanmar
In Mandalay, the earthquake reportedly brought down multiple
buildings, including the Ma Soe Yane monastery, one of the largest in the city,
and damaged the former royal palace. Meanwhile, Christian Aid said its partners
and colleagues on the ground reported that a dam burst in the city, causing
water levels to rise in the lowland areas in the area.
A video posted online showed robed monks in the street
shooting video of the multistory monastery before it suddenly fell into the
ground. It was not immediately clear whether anyone was harmed.
In the Sagaing region just southwest of the city, a
90-year-old bridge collapsed, and some sections of the highway connecting
Mandalay and Myanmar’s largest city, Yangon, were also damaged.
The military seized power from the elected government of
Aung San Suu Kyi in February 2021, and is now involved in a bloody civil war
with long-established militias and newly formed pro-democracy ones.
Government forces have lost control of much of Myanmar, and
many places are incredibly dangerous to access or simply out of reach for aid
groups. More than 3 million people have been displaced by the fighting and
nearly 20 million are in need, according to the United Nations.
The Red Cross said downed power lines added to challenges
for their teams trying to reach several hard-hit areas.
“This disaster will have left people devastated and in need
of drinking water, food and shelter,” said Julie Mehigan, head of Asia, Middle
East & Europe for Christian Aid. “Myanmar is one of the least developed
countries in the world. Even before this heartbreaking earthquake, we know
conflict and displacement has left countless people in real need.”
Myanmar’s 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.
Injuries reported in China
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.
