Powerful earthquake rocks Myanmar and Thailand, killing more than 150 people
The full extent of the death, injury and destruction in Myanmar where the epicentre was is not yet clear.
A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighbouring Thailand on Friday, killing more than 150 people and 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 building was under construction collapsed.
The 7.7 magnitude earthquake, with an epicentre near Mandalay, Myanmar’s second largest city, struck at midday and was followed by a strong 6.4 magnitude aftershock.
Thailand’s defence minister Phumtham Wechayachai earlier said 90 people were missing at the site where a high-rise building under construction collapsed in the powerful earthquake.
Seven people were rescued earlier on Friday from the collapsed building near Bangkok’s popular Chatuchak Market.
The epicentre of the earthquake was in neighbouring Myanmar which is embroiled in a brutal civil war that has already caused a widespread humanitarian crisis.
The full extent of the death, injury and destruction in Myanmar was not yet clear. Myanmar’s government said blood was in high demand in the hardest-hit areas, and videos from the country showed multiple collapsed houses and buckled and cracked roads.
The multi-story structure in Bangkok collapsed after the 7.7 magnitude earthquake struck at midday local time on Friday, sending a crane on top toppling to the ground and a massive plume of dust into the air.
A dramatic video circulated on social media showed the collapse of the building, which was under construction, while onlookers screamed and ran.
Police told The Associated Press they were responding to the scene, and had no immediate information on how many workers were on the site at the time of the collapse.
One 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.
Rescuers said the rubble is still too unstable for them to try to find people possibly trapped beneath.
Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra called an emergency meeting to assess the impact of the 7.7 magnitude earthquake.
“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 centres shopping for camera equipment.
“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.”
