At least 153 people died in a powerful, 7.7-magnitude earthquake that struck central Myanmar on Friday and caused widespread damage in neighbouring Thailand and southwestern China.
In Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, 144 were killed and 732 injured. So far, nine fatalities have been reported in Thailand, and the death toll is certain to rise after a skyscraper under construction in Bangkok was toppled and workers are missing.
It is the worst earthquake to strike Myanmar, a poor nation of 54.13 million, since 1912, when 7.9-magnitude quake hit, according to the US Geological Survey. In 1991, a 7.0-magnitude quake hit about 100 miles north of the one Friday, according to CNN.
In 2023, in Turkey, an earthquake killed more than 50 000 people.
“I think it would take even months and maybe some years, because the infrastructure is damaged,” Dr. Kyi Minn, national director of World Vision Myanmar, told CNN.
“The highway is damaged, the airport is damaged. So, we are finding a way [of] how to get there. It will need a special way to go there. So, yeah, for the rehabilitation is quite, quite difficult.”
The epicenter Friday was ten miles northwest of the city of Sagaing at a depth of six miles, according to the US Geological Survey. The quake struck at 12:52 p.m. local time.
Two tectonic plates that moved side by side, called a strike-slip fault, triggered the earthquake, according to CNN meteorologist, Derek Van Dam.
“The India and Eurasia plate actually moved side by side with each other, and that caused this intense shaking right at the surface,” he said.
“We’re talking about violent to severe shaking for millions of people across Myanmar, several millions. We’re talking about near 90 million people felt at least light shaking from this.”
The BBC reported 81 construction workers are missing after an unfinished high-rise building collapsed hundreds of miles away in Bangkok, according to Thailand’s deputy prime minister.
At least seven people died at the site in Thailand, according to the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration.
In Mandalay, Myanmar’s second-largest city, a rescuer told the BBC the damage is “enormous.” (UPI)
