Deadly earthquakes hit Myanmar and Thailand, toppling Bangkok skyscraper under construction

Bangkok — Two violent earthquakes rocked Southeast Asia on Friday, toppling a skyscraper under construction in the Thai capital Bangkok and trapping dozens of workers at the site, with at least three confirmed dead, according to the government. A state of emergency was declared in Bangkok, and in six regions and states in neighboring Myanmar, where the first quake, with a magnitude of 7.7, was centered.

Myanmar’s state-run MRTV television said the military-run government’s emergency proclamation included the capital Naypyitaw and the country’s second largest city Mandalay, near to the epicenter of the first powerful temblor. Several buildings collapsed in Mandalay, witnesses told the Reuters news agency, and a hospital in the capital trying to deal with mass casualties was among those damaged.

Reuters cited witnesses as saying at least three people were killed in the town of Taungoo in Myanmar when a mosque was severely damaged by the quake, and local media said at least two others were killed and 20 injured when a hotel collapsed in Aung Ban. There was no confirmation of the casualties from Myanmar authorities. 

The U.S. Geological Survey and Germany’s GFZ center for geosciences said the first quake had a magnitude of 7.7 and was at the relatively shallow depth of about 6 miles. Its epicenter was in Myanmar, according to preliminary reports, near the city of Mandalay. An aftershock with a magnitude of 6.4 shook the region 12 minutes later.

Destruction in Myanmar

Myanmar is in the midst of a civil war and many areas are not easily accessible. 

It was not immediately clear what relief efforts Myanmar’s ruling military regime would be able to provide, or how many buildings might have been damaged, but among them was a major hospital in the country’s capital, which was described as a mass casualty area as medics raced to treat the wounded in an outdoor triage area.

The hospital’s emergency department was heavily damaged, and images showed a car crushed under the concrete roof that had covered its entrance.

“Many injured people have been arriving, I haven’t seen anything like this before,” a doctor at the facility told the French news agency AFP. “We are trying to handle the situation. I’m so exhausted.”

AFP journalists at the scene said people were crying in pain and others lay still as relatives tried to offer comfort.

“Hundreds of injured people are arriving… but the emergency building here also collapsed,” security officials at the hospital told AFP.

The powerful temblor damaged part of the former royal palace in Mandalay and other buildings, according to videos and photos posted to social media.

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. 

A team of AFP journalists was at the National Museum in Naypyidaw when the first temblor hit, and they said pieces fell from the ceiling as the building began shaking, and nearby roads buckled.

Under-construction skyscraper collapses in Bangkok 

In densely populated Bangkok, the quakes set tall buildings swaying and prompted thousands of people to pour into streets across the city. Trading was halted on the stock exchange in Bangkok. 

Thailand’s Deputy Prime Minister Phumtham Wechayachai said three workers were found dead and 81 people were still believed to be trapped in the rubble after the collapse of the 30-story skyscraper that was under construction in Bangkok. Videos posted on social media showed the moment the high-rise came tumbling down, sending a massive cloud of dust into the air as workers ran away from the site. 

Rescue worker Songwut Wangpon told reporters that seven people were found alive, as he spoke next to the tall pile of rubble that was once the unfinished building near Bangkok’s popular Chatuchak Market.

Water from high-rise rooftop pools in Bangkok sloshed over the sides of the buildings as they shook from the first quake, and debris fell from many skyscrapers.

Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra called an emergency meeting to assess the impact of the temblors.

The greater Bangkok area is home to more than 17 million people, many of whom live in high-rise apartments.

Alarms went off in buildings when the first quake hit around 1:30 p.m., and startled residents were evacuated down staircases of high-rise condominiums and hotels in densely populated central Bangkok.

They remained in the streets, seeking shade from the midday sun in the minutes after the first quake, and were cautioned to stay outside in case there were more aftershocks.

“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 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.”

Like thousands of others in downtown Bangkok, Morton sought refuge in Benjasiri Park — away from the tall buildings all around.

“I got outside and then looked up at the building and the whole building was moving, dust and debris, it was pretty intense,” he said. “Lots of chaos.”

Thailand’s Department of Disaster Prevention said the first quake was felt in almost all regions of the country.