NAYPYIDAW (AFP) – A powerful earthquake killed over 20 people across Myanmar and Thailand yesterday, toppling buildings and bridges and trapping over 80 workers in an under-construction skyscraper in Bangkok.
The shallow 7.7-magnitude tremor hit northwest of the city of Sagaing in central Myanmar, and was followed minutes later by a 6.4-magnitude aftershock.
The quake’s devastation prompted a rare request for international aid from Myanmar’s isolated military junta, which has lost swathes of territory to armed groups. A state of emergency was declared across the six worst-affected regions.
“About 20 people” were confirmed dead at a hospital in Naypyidaw, a doctor told AFP on condition of anonymity.
Across the border in Thailand, three people were confirmed dead in the collapse of a skyscraper, with 81 more missing and believed trapped in the twisted metal and rubble of the under-construction building.
Myanmar looked to have borne the brunt of the quake, with hundreds of casualties flooding a hospital in the capital Naypyidaw. The emergency department’s entrance had collapsed onto a car, with medics treating patients outside.
A hospital official ushered journalists away, saying, “This is a mass casualty area.”
“I haven’t seen (something) like this before. We are trying to handle the situation. I’m so exhausted now,” a doctor told AFP.
AFP reporters saw junta chief Min Aung Hlaing arrive at the hospital as the ruling military called for foreign help. “We want the international community to give humanitarian aid as soon as possible,” junta spokesman Zaw Min Tun told AFP at the hospital.
In Thailand, Deputy Prime Minister Phumtham Wechayachai told reporters at least three workers had been killed, with 81 more trapped, after the collapse of a building under construction near the sprawling Chatuchak market.
Rescuers were surveying the tangle of rubble and twisted metal for a safe way to search for survivors, an AFP photographer at the scene said.
“I heard people calling for help, saying ‘help me’,” deputy police chief of Bang Sue district Worapat Sukthai told AFP.
“We estimate that hundreds of people are injured,” he said.
Across Bangkok and the northern tourist destination of Chiang Mai, where the power briefly went out, stunned residents hurried outside, unsure of how to respond to the unusual quake.
“I quickly rushed out of the shop along with other customers,” said Sai, 76, who was working at a minimart in Chiang Mai when the shop started to shake. “This is the strongest tremor I’ve experienced in my life.”
Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra declared an emergency zone in Bangkok, where some metro and light rail services were suspended, further snarling the city’s already notorious traffic.
The streets of the capital were full of commuters attempting to walk home, or simply taking refuge in the entrances of malls and office buildings.
