7.7 magnitude earthquake hits Myanmar and Thailand

A powerful earthquake struck Myanmar on Friday, March 28, causing extensive damage across much of the country as far south as Thailand.

Initial reports indicate 140 deaths in Burma and 10 deaths in Thailand.

The 7.7 magnitude earthquake struck at midday, with an epicenter near Mandalay, Myanmar's second largest city.

Aftershocks followed, including one with a strong magnitude of 6.4.

According to preliminary reports, the US Geological Survey and the German Geosciences Center GFZ said the earthquake was shallow, at 10 kilometers.

Shallower earthquakes tend to cause more damage.

Terror in Bangkok

Rescuers work to save people trapped in the collapsed building under construction in Bangkok's Chatuchak district on Friday, March 28, 2025. Photo: AFP

Bangkok authorities said 10 people were killed, 16 injured and 101 missing at three construction sites.

A 33-story building under construction collapsed in a cloud of dust near Bangkok's Chatuchak Market

Vehicles on a nearby highway stopped.

Sirens wailed across the Thai capital's city center as rescuers flocked to the wreckage.

Above them, jagged pieces of steel and shattered blocks of concrete, some stacked like pancakes, rose in a towering heap.

The wounded were evacuated on stretchers and hospital beds were also carried outside onto a sidewalk.

"This is a great tragedy," Deputy Prime Minister Suriya Juangroongruangkit said after visiting the site.

Although the region is prone to earthquakes, they are rarely felt in the Bangkok metropolitan area, which has a population of over 17 million.

Many live in high-rise buildings.

Voranoot Thirawat, a lawyer working in central Bangkok, said she first realized something was wrong when she saw a light swinging back and forth.

Then she heard the building creak, and she and her colleagues fled down 12 flights of stairs.

"In my entire life, I have never experienced an earthquake like this in Bangkok," she said.

Fraser Morton, a Scottish tourist, was in one of Bangkok's many shopping malls when the earthquake struck.

“Suddenly, the whole building started moving.

“Immediately there was screaming and a lot of panic,” he said.

Some people fled by taking the escalators going up, he said.

Nearby, Paul Vincent, an English tourist, recalls seeing a high-rise building swaying, water falling from a rooftop pool, and people crying in the streets.

The earthquake caused extensive damage across much of Burma

A Buddhist monk walks near a damaged building on the grounds of a monastery after the earthquake on Friday, March 28, 2025, in Naypyitaw, Myanmar. Photo: Aung Shine Oo/AP

The extent of the loss of life, injuries and destruction was not immediately clear in Burma, which is in the throes of a civil war and where information is tightly controlled.

"The number of dead and wounded is expected to rise," said Myanmar's military chief, General Min Aung Hlaing, announcing on television that at least 144 people had been killed and 730 others wounded in his country.

Myanmar lies in an active seismic belt, although many tremors occur in sparsely populated areas, not cities like those hit Friday.

The U.S. Geological Survey, a scientific agency of the U.S. government, has estimated that the death toll could exceed 1,000.

In Mandalay, the earthquake reportedly caused several buildings to collapse, including one of the city's largest monasteries.

Photos from the capital Naypyidaw showed rescue teams pulling victims from the rubble of several buildings housing government officials.

The Burmese government said blood was in high demand in the hardest-hit areas.

In a country where previous governments have sometimes been slow to accept foreign aid, Min Aung Hlaing said Myanmar was ready to accept help.

The United Nations has allocated $5 million to launch relief operations.

But amid images of buckled and cracked roads and reports of a collapsed bridge and a burst dam, there were concerns about how rescuers would even be able to reach some areas in a country already gripped by a humanitarian crisis.

"We fear it will take weeks to understand the extent of the destruction caused by this earthquake," said Mohammed Riyas, director of the International Rescue Committee in Burma.

Injuries reported in China

The earthquake was felt in China's Yunnan and Sichuan provinces and caused damage and injuries in the city of Ruili, on the border with Myanmar, according to Chinese media.

The tremors in Mangshi, a Chinese city about 100 kilometers northeast of Ruili, were so strong that people could not stand, a resident told The Paper, an online media outlet.

See also: Is it safe to travel to Thailand after the Burma earthquake?

Source: AP News