Thousands are feared dead after a powerful 7.7 magnitude earthquake rocked Southeast Asia on Friday, bringing down a towering skyscraper in Thailand and toppling buildings, including a mosque, in neighboring Myanmar.
Harrowing scenes emerged of bodies being lined up in the rubble as rescuers scoured for survivors from the midday quake, whose epicenter was detected near Mandalay, Myanmar’s second-largest city.
Although the extent of death and destruction wasn’t immediately clear, the US Geological Survey (USGS) issued a red alert — estimating that deaths could range between 1,000 and 10,000.
“High casualties and extensive damage are probable and the disaster is likely widespread,” the federal agency warned, noting that “past red alerts have required a national or international response.”
At least 144 were quickly confirmed dead in Myanmar — one of the world’s poorest countries — where photos and video from two hard-hit cities showed extensive damage.
The destruction spread hundreds of miles from the epicenter, including in neighboring Thailand, where an under-construction skyscraper crashed down in the capital Bangkok, killing at least eight people, Thai authorities said.
Seven people have already been pulled from the rubble, while dozens more were unaccounted for, Thailand’s Defense Minister Phumtham Wechayachai said, noting that the site was still too unstable for rescue crews to find those trapped beneath.
Elsewhere in Bangkok, people could be seen running 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.
Bangkok’s governor Chadchart Sittipunt said at least two other deaths had been confirmed in Thailand’s capital.
In Myanmar, at least three were killed in the town of Taungoo when a mosque partially collapsed.
Local media reported that at least two people also died and 20 others were injured after a hotel collapsed in the city of Aung Ban.
USGS said the deadly quake, which struck at lunchtime, was of 7.7 magnitude and at a depth of 6.2 miles.
The epicenter was detected near Mandalay — Myanmar’s second-largest city — and was followed by a strong 6.4 magnitude aftershock, according to officials.
Bangkok’s city authorities declared the capital city a disaster-stricken area, saying they needed to assess and monitor damaged areas, as well as assist people who might still be at risk.
The greater Bangkok area is home to more than 17 million people, many of whom live in high-rise apartments.
The sound of sirens echoed throughout the city and vehicles flooded the street in the aftermath, leaving some of the city’s already congested streets gridlocked.
Fraser Morton, a tourist from Scotland, said he was in a shopping mall when the tremor hit.
“All of a sudden the whole building began to move. Immediately there was screaming and a lot of panic,” he said.
“I just started walking calmly at first but then the building started really moving, yeah, a lot of screaming, a lot of panic, people running the wrong way down the escalators, lots of banging and crashing inside the mall.”
“I got outside and then looked up at the building and the whole building was moving, dust and debris, it was pretty intense,” he added. “Lots of chaos.”
Paul Vincent, a tourist visiting from England, was at a streetside bar when the quake struck.
“The next thing, everybody came on the street, so there was a lot of screaming and panicking, which obviously made it a lot worse,” he said.
When he came onto the street himself, he recalled seeing a high-rise building swaying as water gushed down from a rooftop pool.
“When I saw the building, oh my God, that’s when … it hit me,” he said.
“There was people crying in the streets and, you know, the panic was horrendous really.”
Myanmar’s ruling military, too, declared a state of emergency in multiple regions in the wake of the earthquake, but with the country in the midst of a prolonged bloody civil war it wasn’t immediately clear how help would get to many regions.
In Mandalay, the earthquake damaged part of the former royal palace and buildings, according to a slew of social media videos and photos.
“We all ran out of the house as everything started shaking. I witnessed a five-story 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,” one witness told Reuters.
A 90-year-old bridge collapsed in the nearby Sagaing region, while some sections of the highway connecting Mandalay and Myanmar’s largest city, Yangon, were also damaged.
