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Saturday, 24 May
A powerful 7.7 and 6.4 magnitude earthquake struck Myanmar, causing at least three fatalities in Bangkok, Thailand, and leaving many others trapped after a building under construction collapsed.
The initial quake occurred around 12:50pm (06:20 GMT) on Friday, 16 kilometers (10 miles) northwest of Sagaing, at a depth of 10 kilometers (6 miles), according to the United States Geological Survey (USGS).
Myanmar's military government has declared a state of emergency across six regions and states. In a statement on the Telegram messaging app, authorities pledged to quickly assess the situation, carry out rescue operations, and provide humanitarian assistance.
At a major hospital in Naypyidaw, the facility was designated as a "mass casualty area." According to an official, injured patients were being treated outside the emergency department of the 1,000-bed hospital, with some writhing in pain while others lay motionless, as relatives provided comfort.
Two witnesses from Taungnoo, a town in Bago region, told Reuters that at least three people were killed when a mosque partially collapsed during the quake. One witness shared, “We were praying when the tremors began… Three people died instantly.”
Tony Cheng, reporting for Al Jazeera from Naypyidaw, described being outside the Defence Services Museum when the earthquake struck, just after interviewing a government spokesperson. “We had stepped outside to say our goodbyes when the shaking started,” Cheng recalled, explaining that he and others took shelter under a doorway as large sections of roofing and panels crashed down around them.
Cheng remarked that the tremors started off mildly but rapidly grew stronger, leading concrete panels to break off the building.
“I’ve experienced earthquakes in this region before, but nothing as intense as this,” he said. “We’ve been feeling numerous aftershocks, and it’s left everyone on edge.”
Social media posts from Mandalay, Myanmar’s ancient royal capital and center of the Buddhist heartland, showed images of collapsed buildings and debris scattered across the city’s streets.
Htet Naing Oo, a witness in Mandalay, told Reuters that a tea shop had collapsed with several people trapped inside. "We couldn’t get in," she said. "The situation is very bad."
Marie Manrique, programme coordinator for the International Federation of the Red Cross, spoke to reporters in Geneva via video link from Yangon, noting that the organization expects the impact to be "quite large."
"Public infrastructure, including roads, bridges, and buildings, has been damaged," she said. "We are also concerned about the condition of large-scale dams, which people are closely monitoring."
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March 28, 2025
