Strong Earthquakes Rock Thailand, Myanmar

Gulf Insider

28-03-2025

A powerful earthquake rocked central Myanmar on Friday, buckling roads in capital Naypyidaw, damaging buildings and forcing people to flee into the streets in neighbouring Thailand.
The 7.7-magnitude tremor hit northwest of the city of Sagaing on Friday afternoon at a shallow depth, the United States Geological Survey said. A 6.4-magnitude aftershock hit the same area minutes later.
A 30-storey skyscraper under construction for government offices collapsed in Bangkok on Friday, trapping 43 workers, police and medics said, after the city was rocked by a strong earthquake.
The building in the north of the Thai capital was reduced to a tangle of rubble and twisted metal in seconds after the quake.
A state of emergency has been declared in Bangkok.
'I heard it and I was sleeping in the house, I ran as far as I could in my pyjamas out of the building,' Duangjai, a resident of the popular northern Thailand tourist city Chiang Mai, told AFP.
Chunks of ceilings fell from buildings and roads buckled in Myanmar capital Naypyidaw, a sprawling, purpose-built city with highways up to 20 lanes wide, according to AFP journalists.
A team of AFP journalists were at the National Museum in Naypyidaw when the earthquake struck and the building began shaking.
Pieces fell from the ceiling and walls cracked as uniformed staff ran outside, some of them trembling and tearful, others grabbing cellphones to try to contact loved ones.
The ground vibrated violently for around half a minute before settling.
The quakes caused panic in nearby cities in northern Thailand and down to capital Bangkok.
Sai, a 76-year-old Chiang Mai resident, was working at a minimart when the shop started the shake.
'I quickly rushed out of the shop along with other customers,' he said.
'This is the strongest tremor I've experienced in my life.'
The quake damaged buildings in Bangkok and forced the suspension of some metro and light rail services in the city.
Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra said on Friday she had interrupted an official visit to the southern island of Phuket to hold an 'urgent meeting' after the quake, according to a post on X.
Tremors were also felt in China's southwest Yunnan province, according to Beijing's quake agency, which said the jolt measured 7.9 in magnitude.
Earthquakes are relatively common in Myanmar, where six strong quakes of 7.0 magnitude or more struck between 1930 and 1956 near the Sagaing Fault, which runs north to south through the centre of the country, according to the USGS.
A powerful 6.8-magnitude earthquake in the ancient capital Bagan in central Myanmar killed three people in 2016, also toppling spires and crumbling temple walls at the tourist destination.
The breakneck pace of development in Myanmar's cities, combined with crumbling infrastructure and poor urban planning, has also made the country's most populous areas vulnerable to earthquakes and other disasters, experts say.
The impoverished Southeast Asian nation has a strained medical system, especially in its rural states.
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