DEVELOPING STORYDEVELOPING STORY,
The 7.7- and 6.4-magnitude tremors trap 43 construction workers under rubble in Bangkok, as information scarce on Myanmar.
Magnitude 7.7 and 6.4 earthquakes have struck Myanmar, according to the United States Geological Survey (USGS), with strong tremors causing destruction in Thailand and felt elsewhere in the region.
The first tremor hit 16km (10 miles) northwest of the city of Sagaing at a depth of 10km (6 miles) at about 12:50pm (06:20 GMT) on Friday, USGS said.
The AFP news agency reported from Myanmar’s capital Naypyidaw that roads were buckled by the force of the tremors and chunks of ceilings fell from buildings.
An officer from the Myanmar Fire Services Department told the Reuters news agency: “We have started the search and going around Yangon to check for casualties and damage. So far, we have no information yet.”
Social media posts from Mandalay, Myanmar’s ancient royal capital that is at the centre of its Buddhist heartland, showed collapsed buildings and debris strewn across streets of the city.
One witness in the city told Reuters: “We all ran out of the house as everything started shaking. 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.”
Another witness in the city, 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.”
A third witness said a mosque in the city was badly damaged.
Skyscraper collapses in Bangkok
In neighbouring Thailand’s capital Bangkok, startled residents poured out of high-rise buildings. Witnesses said the tremors were forceful enough to send water sloshing out of pools.
“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 tourist city Chiang Mai, told AFP.
There are reports of 43 construction workers being stuck under the rubble of an unfinished 30-storey building that collapsed in the Chatuchak area of Bangkok.
Some metro and light rail services were suspended in Bangkok.
Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra announced a state of emergency in her country.
Previous quakes in Myanmar
Earthquakes are relatively common in Myanmar, where six strong quakes of 7.0 magnitude or higher 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 impoverished Southeast Asian nation has a strained medical system, especially in its rural states.
