Rescuers work on the website of a high-rise constructing below development that collapsed after a 7.7 magnitude earthquake in Bangkok, Thailand on Friday.
Sakchai Lalit/AP
disguise caption
toggle caption
Sakchai Lalit/AP
BANGKOK — A 7.7 magnitude earthquake rocked Thailand and neighboring Myanmar noon on Friday, inflicting the collapse of a high-rise constructing below development in Bangkok and forcing a whole bunch of hundreds to evacuate from their properties and workplaces.
The noon temblor was adopted by a powerful 6.4 magnitude aftershock.
Attainable casualties from the constructing collapse close to Bangkok’s standard Chatuchak market should not but recognized, police mentioned, and there was no fast data on what number of employees have been on the location on the time.
A dramatic video circulated on social media confirmed the multi-story constructing with a crane on high collapsing right into a cloud of mud, whereas onlookers screamed and ran.
Folks in Bangkok evacuated from their buildings have been cautioned to remain exterior in case there have been extra aftershocks.
The U.S. Geological Survey and Germany’s GFZ middle for geosciences mentioned the earthquake was a shallow 10 kilometers (6.2 miles), with an epicenter in Myanmar, in line with preliminary stories.
“Swiftly the entire constructing started to maneuver. Instantly there was screaming and a variety of panic,” mentioned Fraser Morton, a vacationer from Scotland, who was in considered one of Bangkok’s many malls looking for digicam gear.
“I simply began strolling calmly at first however then the constructing began actually transferring, yeah, a variety of screaming, a variety of panic, individuals working the mistaken method down the escalators, a lot of banging and crashing contained in the mall.”
Rescuers work on the website of a high-rise constructing below development that collapsed after a 7.7 magnitude earthquake in Bangkok, Thailand on Friday.
Sakchai Lalit/AP
disguise caption
toggle caption
Sakchai Lalit/AP
Like Morton, hundreds of individuals poured into Benjasiri Park from close by purchasing malls, excessive rises and residence buildings alongside Bangkok’s busy Sukhumvit Highway.
Many have been on telephones making an attempt to succeed in family members as others sought shade from the recent early afternoon solar. Others stared up fearfully on the tall buildings within the densely packed a part of the town.
“I bought exterior after which regarded up on the constructing and the entire constructing was transferring, mud and particles, it was fairly intense,” Morton mentioned. “A number of chaos.”
The sound of sirens echoed all through central Bangkok and automobiles crammed the road, leaving a number of the metropolis’s already congested streets gridlocked. The elevated speedy transit system and subway have been shut down.
Metropolis corridor declared the town a catastrophe space to facilitate interagency support and emergency assist.
Paul Vincent, a vacationer visiting from England, was at a streetside bar when the quake struck.
“The following factor, all people got here on the road, so there was a variety of screaming and panicking, which clearly made it quite a bit worse,” he mentioned.
As he got here onto the road himself, he mentioned he noticed a high-rise constructing swaying and water was falling from a rooftop pool.
“Once I noticed the constructing, oh my God, that is when … it hit me,” he mentioned. “There was individuals crying within the streets and, , the panic was horrendous actually.”
In Mandalay, Myanmar’s second-largest metropolis and near the epicenter, the earthquake broken a part of the previous royal palace and buildings, in line with movies and pictures launched on Fb social media.
Broken pagodas are seen after an earthquake on Friday.
Aung Shine Oo/AP
disguise caption
toggle caption
Aung Shine Oo/AP
Whereas the world is susceptible to earthquakes, it’s typically sparsely populated, and most homes are low-rise buildings.
Within the Sagaing area simply southwest of Mandalay, a 90-year-old bridge collapsed, and a few sections of the freeway connecting Mandalay and Myanmar’s largest metropolis, Yangon, have been additionally broken.
Residents in Yangon rushed out of their properties when the quake struck. There have been no fast stories of accidents or deaths.
Within the capital Naypyitaw, the quake broken spiritual shrines, sending components toppling to the bottom, and a few properties.
To the northeast, the earthquake was felt in Yunnan and Sichuan provinces in China and brought on harm to homes and accidents within the metropolis of Ruili on the border with Myanmar, in line with Chinese language media stories.
Movies that one outlet mentioned it had obtained from an individual in Ruili confirmed constructing particles littering a road and an individual being wheeled in a stretcher towards an ambulance.
The shaking in Mangshi, a Chinese language metropolis about 100 kilometers (60 miles) northeast of Ruili, was so robust that folks could not stand, one resident informed The Paper, an internet media outlet.
A resident of Kunming, the provincial capital of Yunnan, informed The Paper that her ceiling lamp was swinging wildly and the shaking lasted greater than 10 seconds.
In Bangkok, alarms went off in buildings because the earthquake hit round 1:30 p.m., and startled residents have been evacuated down staircases of high-rise condominiums and accommodations.
The better Bangkok space is residence to greater than 17 million individuals, lots of whom dwell in high-rise residences.
Rescuers carry an injured from the location of a high-rise constructing below development that collapsed after a 7.7 magnitude earthquake in Bangkok, Thailand on Friday.
Sakchai Lalit/AP
disguise caption
toggle caption
Sakchai Lalit/AP
Water from high-rise rooftop swimming pools sloshed over the aspect as they shook, and particles fell from many buildings because the long-lasting earthquake rattled the town.
“I’ve skilled earthquakes twice earlier than in Myanmar, however that was just one second, one huge bang, however right here it went on for at the least, I might say, a minute,” mentioned Zsuzsanna Vari-Kovacs, a Hungarian resident of Bangkok, who had simply completed consuming at a restaurant when the quake hit.
“My husband was in a high-rise, I feel that is even worse.”
Thailand’s Division of Catastrophe Prevention mentioned the quake was felt in virtually all areas of the nation.
Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra known as an emergency assembly to evaluate the affect of the quake.
