A 7.7 magnitude earthquake rocked Thailand and neighboring Myanmar, killing atleast 150 people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed.
A dramatic Video circulating on social media showed the multi-story building with a crane on top collapsing into a cloud of dust, while onlookers screamed and ran.
It was learnt that a strong 6.4 magnitude aftershock followed the midday temblor, prompting evacuations in Bangkok, with authorities warning evacuees to stay outside in case of further tremors.
In Mandalay, Myanmar’s second-largest city, the earthquake damaged part of the former royal palace and buildings, according to videos and photos released by evacuated residents on social media.
Similarly, 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.
According to Thai police on Friday, emergency officials are responding to the scene near Bangkok’s popular Chatuchak market and had no immediate information on how many workers were on the site at the time of the collapse.
One of the witnesses, Fraser Morton, a tourist from Scotland, who was in one of Bangkok’s many malls shopping for camera equipment, said, “All of a sudden, the whole building began to move, immediately there was screaming and a lot of panic.”
“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. I got outside and then looked up at the building, and the whole building was moving, dust and debris, it was pretty intense. Lots of chaos,” he said.
Another witness in the city of Mandalay, Htet Naing Oo, told newsmen that a tea shop had collapsed with several people trapped inside. “We couldn’t go in,” she said. “The situation is very bad.”
Meanwhile, rescue efforts are underway in Yangon with an officer from the Myanmar Fire Services Department reporting that teams are scouring the area to assess casualties and damage.
