BANGKOK – A powerful earthquake centred in Myanmar rocked Southeast Asia on Friday, killing more than 140 people in that country, according to state media, and toppling buildings across a wide area.
The quake also hit Thailand, where rescuers in the capital Bangkok were searching in the rubble of a tower block that had been under construction and collapsed. There were 117 people missing and five dead following the building collapse, according to the rescue operation.
Much of the destruction appeared to have taken place in Mandalay.
The United States Geological Survey (USGS) said the quake, which struck at lunchtime, was of 7.7 magnitude and at a depth of 10 km (6.2 miles). Theepicentre was about 17 km from Mandalay.
The city, with a population of about 1.5 million, is Myanmar’s ancient royal capital and the centre of its Buddhist heartland.
Buildings, bridges and roads were wrecked, residents and local media said.
State-run MRTV said on the Telegram messaging app that at least 144 people had been killed in Myanmar and 732 injured.
“We all ran out of the house as everything started shaking,” a Mandalay resident told Reuters. “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.”
A rescue worker from the Moe Saydanar charity group told Reuters that it had retrieved at least 60 bodies from monasteries and buildings in Pyinmanar, near Myanmar’s capital Naypyidaw, and more people were trapped.
“This 60 is only from my charity group and only at Pyinmanar town,” he said.
Myanmar’s military junta is locked in a struggle to put down insurgents fighting its rule, a situation that is likely to complicate the rescue and relief operation. (Reuters)
