
Deadly Myanmar quake shakes Southeast Asia, 81 feared trapped in Bangkok collapse
Listen to article
A powerful earthquake centred in Myanmar rocked Southeast Asia on Friday, killing several people and causing extensive damage, with rescuers in Bangkok searching for 81 people in the rubble of a collapsed building.
At least three people were killed in the town of Taungoo in Myanmar when a mosque partially collapsed, witnesses said. Local media reported at least two people died and 20 were injured after a hotel collapsed in Aung Ban.
The ruling military in Myanmar did not give any numbers for dead and wounded. The diplomatic spokesman for the parallel National Unity Government that opposes the junta said the quake killed at least 12 people and more deaths were likely in the Mandalay area it hit.
Troops from the anti-junta militias, known as the People's Defence Forces, would provide humanitarian help, Zin Mar Aung told Reuters.
In Thailand, the defence minister said rescuers were searching for 81 people trapped in the rubble of a skyscraper that was under construction and collapsed into a pile of rubble.
Bangkok Governor Chadchart Sittipunt said three people were killed at the building site. He warned of possible aftershocks but urged people to be calm and said the situation was largely under control.
The United States Geological Survey (USGS) said the quake, which struck at lunchtime, was of 7.7 magnitude and at a depth of 10 km (6.2 miles). The epicentre was about 17 km from Mandalay, which has a population of about 1.5 million.
The quake was followed by a powerful aftershock and several more moderate ones.
'We all ran out of the house as everything started shaking,' a Mandalay resident told Reuters. 'I witnessed a five-storey building collapse in front of my eyes. Everyone in my town is out on the road and no one dares to go back inside buildings.'
The quake caused the collapse of buildings in five cities and towns, as well as a railway bridge and a road bridge on the Yangon-Mandalay Expressway, Myanmar state media said. Images showed the destroyed Ava Bridge over the Irrawaddy River, its arches leaning into the water.
The quake will further stretch Myanmar's ruling military, which is fighting against an armed uprising. The junta declared a state of emergency in multiple regions but provided no specifics of damage.
'The state will make inquiries on the situation quickly and conduct rescue operations along with providing humanitarian aid,' it said on Telegram.
The Red Cross said roads, bridges and buildings had been damaged in Myanmar, and there were concerns for the state of large dams.
Mandalay is Myanmar's ancient royal capital and at the centre of the country's Buddhist heartland.
A Mandalay resident said destruction stretched across the whole city, and one neighbourhood, Sein Pan, was on fire.
Roads were damaged, phone lines disrupted and there was no electricity, said the resident, who declined to be named.
Local media outlet Myanmar Now posted images showing a clock tower had collapsed, and part of the wall by Mandalay Palace was in ruins.
A witness, Htet Naing Oo, told Reuters that a tea shop had collapsed with several people trapped inside.
'We couldn't go in,' she said. 'The situation is very bad.'
At least three people died after a mosque in Taungoo partially collapsed, two witnesses said.
'We were saying prayers when the shaking started… Three died on the spot,' one said.
Local media reported a hotel in Aung Ban, in Shan state, crumbled into rubble, with the Democratic Voice of Burma reporting two people had died and 20 were trapped.
Army-run MRTV reported that the quake toppled buildings, crushed cars and left huge fissures on roads across the capital Naypyitaw.
Amnesty International said the earthquake could not have come at a worse time for Myanmar, given the number of displaced people, the existing need for relief aid, and cuts by the Trump administration to U.S. aid.
Restricted media access meant a clear picture of the extent of damage and loss might not emerge for some time, the group's Myanmar researcher, Joe Freeman, said.
Since overthrowing the elected civilian government of Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi in 2021, the military has struggled to run the country, leaving the economy and basic services like healthcare in tatters.
An armed opposition, comprising established ethnic armies and new resistance groups formed since the coup, has seized swathes of territory and driven the junta out of border areas, increasingly hemming it into the central lowlands.
The fighting has displaced more than three million people in Myanmar, with widespread food insecurity and over a third of the population in need of humanitarian assistance, according to the United Nations.
The country has also been hit by natural disasters in recent years, including Typhoon Yagi last year and Cyclone Mocha in 2023, and the internationally isolated junta has struggled to respond adequately.
Nyi Nyi Kyaw, a Myanmar academic at the University of Bristol, said the earthquake had struck 'at a moment when Myanmar is at its most vulnerable … in decades'.
Civil society had largely fled following the coup and those community-based organisations that remained were unable to manage the disaster relief effort, he said.
'In essence, Myanmar is wholly unable to deal with the shock and its aftermath,' he said.
Office tower shakes in Bangkok
In the Thai capital, people ran out onto the streets in panic, many of them hotel guests in bathrobes and swimming costumes, as water cascaded down from an elevated pool at a luxury hotel, witnesses said.
The Stock Exchange of Thailand suspended all trading activities for the Friday afternoon session.
One office tower in downtown Bangkok swayed from side to side for at least two minutes, with doors and windows creaking loudly, witnesses said.
'At first, I didn't realise (it was an earthquake),' office worker Varunyou Armarttayakul told Reuters.
'But then I saw the table shaking, and the chair and computer started swaying, too…Part of the ceiling even collapsed — that's when I had to run out.'
China's Xinhua news agency said strong tremors were felt in southwestern Yunnan province, which borders Myanmar, but there were no reports of casualties.

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Express Tribune
26 minutes ago
- Express Tribune
Discoveries at Pompeii show signs of life post-eruption
The picture shows new discoveries at Pompeii, where archaeologists have uncovered new evidence indicating the reoccupation of Pompeii following the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD, which left the city in ruins. Photo: AFP Archaeologists have discovered new evidence pointing to the reoccupation of Pompeii following the 79 AD eruption of Mount Vesuvius that left the city in ruins, the directors of the famous site said Wednesday. Despite the massive destruction suffered by Pompeii, an ancient Roman city home to more than 20,000 people before the eruption, some survivors who could not afford to start a new life elsewhere are believed to have returned to live in the devastated area. Archaeologists believe they were joined by others looking for a place to settle and hoping to find valuable items left by Pompeii's earlier residents in the rubble. "Judging by the archaeological data, it must have been an informal settlement where people lived in precarious conditions, without the infrastructure and services typical of a Roman city," before the area was completely abandoned in the fifth century, they said in a statement. While some life returned to the upper floors of the old houses, the former ground floors were converted into cellars with ovens and mills. "Thanks to the new excavations, the picture is now clearer: post-79 Pompeii reemerges, more than a city, a precarious and grey agglomeration, a kind of camp, a favela among the still recognisable ruins of the Pompeii that once was," said Gabriel Zuchtriegel, director of the site. Evidence that the site was reoccupied had been detected in the past, but in the rush to access Pompeii's colourful frescoes and still-intact homes, "the faint traces of the site's reoccupation were literally removed and often swept away without any documentation".


Express Tribune
a day ago
- Express Tribune
Israeli strikes kill 26 in Gaza, including 14 near aid distribution site
A Palestinian mourns a relative, who was killed while seeking aid at the Zikim crossing, ahead of their funeral at Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City on August 5, 2025. Gaza's civil defence agency said 26 people were killed by Israeli gunfire and air strikes on August 5, including 14 who were waiting near an aid distribution site inside the Palestinian territory. PHOTO: AFP Listen to article Gaza's civil defence agency said 26 people were killed by Israeli gunfire and air strikes on Tuesday, including 14 who were waiting near an aid distribution site inside the Palestinian territory. Civil defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP that eight people were killed by Israeli gunfire while waiting for aid near the south Gaza city of Khan Yunis. Six more people were killed and 21 injured by Israeli fire in central Gaza while waiting for food near a distribution centre, according to Bassal. The Israeli army told AFP it was looking into the incidents. Media restrictions in Gaza and difficulties in accessing many areas mean AFP is unable to independently verify the tolls and details provided by the civil defence agency and other parties. Thousands of Gazans gather daily near food distribution points across Gaza, including four belonging to the US- and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. Its operations have been marred by chaotic scenes and near-daily reports of Israeli forces firing on those waiting to collect rations. Read More: Pakistan sends 28th aid shipment to Gaza Israeli restrictions on the entry of goods and aid into Gaza since the start of the war nearly 22 months ago have led to shortages of food and essential goods, including medicine, medical supplies and fuel, which hospitals rely on to power their generators. Bassal said that five people were killed by a nightly air strike on a tent in Al-Mawasi in south Gaza, an area Israeli authorities designated as a safe zone early on in the war. "It's said to be a green zone and it's safe, but it's not. They also say that the aid (distribution) is safe, but people die while obtaining aid," said Adham Younes, who lost a relative in the strike. Also Read: Israel mulls seizing entire Gaza "There's no safety within the Gaza Strip, everyone is exposed to death, everyone is subject to injury," the 30-year-old told AFP. Mahmud Younes, another Gazan who said he witnessed the strike, said: ""We found women screaming -- they were covered in blood. The entire family has been injured." Bassal of the civil defence agency said that six more people were killed in a strike near Gaza City, and one in a strike near the southern city of Khan Yunis. The Ezzedine Al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas's armed wing and the largest armed force in Gaza, said in a statement Tuesday that they had bombarded an Israeli command-and-control centre in south Gaza's Morag Axis, an Israeli-controlled corridor.


Express Tribune
2 days ago
- Express Tribune
Dying Delta: Pakistan's Indus sinks and shrinks
eawater intrusion into the delta, where the Indus River meets the Arabian Sea in Pakistan, has triggered the collapse of farming and fishing communities Israr AHMED KHAN / AFP Listen to article Salt crusts crackle underfoot as Habibullah Khatti walks to his mother's grave to say a final goodbye before he abandons his parched island village on Pakistan's Indus delta. Seawater intrusion into the delta, where the Indus River meets the Arabian Sea in the south of the country, has triggered the collapse of farming and fishing communities "The saline water has surrounded us from all four sides," Khatti told AFP from Abdullah Mirbahar village in the town of Kharo Chan, around 15 kilometres (9 miles) from where the river empties into the sea. As fish stocks fell, the 54-year-old turned to tailoring until that too became impossible with only four of the 150 households remaining. "In the evening, an eerie silence takes over the area," he said, as stray dogs wandered through the deserted wooden and bamboo houses. Habibullah Khatti bids a final goodbye to his mother's grave before he abandons his parched island village on Pakistan's Indus delta Asif HASSAN / AFP Kharo Chan once comprised around 40 villages, but most have disappeared under rising seawater. The town's population fell from 26,000 in 1981 to 11,000 in 2023, according to census data. Khatti is preparing to move his family to nearby Karachi, Pakistan's largest city, and one swelling with economic migrants, including from the Indus delta. The Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum, which advocates for fishing communities, estimates that tens of thousands of people have been displaced from the delta's coastal districts. Kharo Chan once comprised around 40 villages, but most have disappeared under rising seawater Israr AHMED KHAN / AFP However, more than 1.2 million people have been displaced from the overall Indus delta region in the last two decades, according to a study published in March by the Jinnah Institute, a think tank led by a former climate change minister. The downstream flow of water into the delta has decreased by 80 percent since the 1950s as a result of irrigation canals, hydropower dams and the impacts of climate change on glacial and snow melt, according to a 2018 study by the US-Pakistan Center for Advanced Studies in Water. Indus River Delta Nicholas SHEARMAN / AFP That has led to devastating seawater intrusion. The salinity of the water has risen by around 70 percent since 1990, making it impossible to grow crops and severely affecting the shrimp and crab populations. "The delta is both sinking and shrinking," said Muhammad Ali Anjum, a local WWF conservationist. No other choice Beginning in Tibet, the Indus River flows through disputed Kashmir before traversing the entire length of Pakistan. An abandoned house is pictured in one of the villages of Kharo Chan, where the town's population fell from 26,000 in 1981 to 11,000 in 2023 Asif HASSAN / AFP The river and its tributaries irrigate about 80 percent of the country's farmland, supporting millions of livelihoods. The delta, formed by rich sediment deposited by the river as it meets the sea, was once ideal for farming, fishing, mangroves and wildlife. But more than 16 percent of fertile land has become unproductive due to encroaching seawater, a government water agency study in 2019 found. In the town of Keti Bandar, which spreads inland from the water's edge, a white layer of salt crystals covers the ground. In the town of Keti Bandar, which spreads inland from the water's edge, a white layer of salt crystals covers the ground Asif HASSAN / AFP Boats carry in drinkable water from miles away and villagers cart it home via donkeys. "Who leaves their homeland willingly?" said Haji Karam Jat, whose house was swallowed by the rising water level. He rebuilt farther inland, anticipating more families would join him. "A person only leaves their motherland when they have no other choice," he told AFP. Way of life Haji Karam Jat, whose house was swallowed by the rising water level, rebuilt his new hom farther inland Asif HASSAN / AFP British colonial rulers were the first to alter the course of the Indus River with canals and dams, followed more recently by dozens of hydropower projects. Earlier this year, several military-led canal projects on the Indus River were halted when farmers in the low-lying riverine areas of Sindh province protested. To combat the degradation of the Indus River Basin, the government and the United Nations launched the 'Living Indus Initiative' in 2021. One intervention focuses on restoring the delta by addressing soil salinity and protecting local agriculture and ecosystems. Even as mangroves are restored in some parts of the coastline, land grabbing and residential development projects drive clearing in other areas Asif HASSAN / AFP The Sindh government is currently running its own mangrove restoration project, aiming to revive forests that serve as a natural barrier against saltwater intrusion. Even as mangroves are restored in some parts of the coastline, land grabbing and residential development projects drive clearing in other areas. Neighbouring India meanwhile poses a looming threat to the river and its delta, after revoking a 1960 water treaty with Pakistan which divides control over the Indus basin rivers. Habibullah Khatti, a local resident, walks over the salt crusts deposited in Kharo Chan town Asif HASSAN / AFP It has threatened to never reinstate the treaty and build dams upstream, squeezing the flow of water to Pakistan, which has called it "an act of war". Alongside their homes, the communities have lost a way of life tightly bound up in the delta, said climate activist Fatima Majeed, who works with the Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum. Women, in particular, who for generations have stitched nets and packed the day's catches, struggle to find work when they migrate to cities, said Majeed, whose grandfather relocated the family from Kharo Chan to the outskirts of Karachi.