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The 7.7- and 6.4-magnitude tremors trap 43 construction workers under rubble in Bangkok as Myanmar declares a state of emergency in multiple regions.
Magnitude 7.7 and 6.4 earthquakes have struck Myanmar, according to the United States Geological Survey (USGS), with strong tremors causing destruction in Thailand and felt elsewhere in the region.
The first tremor hit 16km (10 miles) northwest of the city of Sagaing at a depth of 10km (6 miles) at about 12:50pm (06:20 GMT) on Friday, USGS said. Myanmar’s ruling military declared a state of emergency in six regions and states.
“The state will make inquiries on the situation quickly and conduct rescue operations along with providing humanitarian aid,” it said on the Telegram messaging app.
According to two witnesses from the town of Taungnoo in Bago region who spoke to Reuters news agency, at least three people died after a mosque partially collapsed. “We were saying prayers when the shaking started… Three died on the spot,” one of them said.
A major hospital in Naypyidaw was declared a “mass casualty area”, an official at the facility told AFP news agency. Rows of wounded were treated outside the emergency department of the 1,000-bed general hospital, some writhing in pain, others lying still as relatives sought to comfort them.
An officer from the Myanmar Fire Services Department told the Reuters news agency: “We have started the search and going around Yangon to check for casualties and damage. So far, we have no information yet.”
Al Jazeera’s Tony Cheng reporting from Naypyidaw said he was outside Myanmar’s Defence Services Museum when the earthquake hit, right after interviewing a government spokesman.
“We’d just stepped outside to say goodbye when things started shaking,” Cheng said, adding he and others sought shelter under a doorway as large roofing and side panels crashed down.
The tremors began gently but quickly intensified, causing concrete panels to break off the building, Cheng noted.
“I’ve been in earthquakes in this region before, and I’ve never felt anything as strong as that,” he said. “We have felt a considerable number of aftershocks. It put everybody here on edge.”
Social media posts from Mandalay, Myanmar’s ancient royal capital that is at the centre of its Buddhist heartland, showed collapsed buildings and debris strewn across streets of the city.
A witness in the city Htet Naing Oo told Reuters that a tea shop had collapsed with several people trapped inside. “We couldn’t go in,” she said. “The situation is very bad.”
Skyscraper collapses in Bangkok
In neighbouring Thailand’s capital Bangkok, startled residents poured out of high-rise buildings.
Al Jazeera’s Imran Khan who was in the city when the earthquakes struck, said the entire public transport system has been shuttered for safety reasons.
“None of the trains are moving,” he reported. “Traffic is absolutely gridlocked. The buildings have been shuttered in the centre of the city.”
There are reports of 43 construction workers being stuck under the rubble of an unfinished 30-storey building that collapsed in the Chatuchak area of Bangkok.
Some metro and light rail services were suspended in Bangkok.
Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra announced a state of emergency in her country. Bangkok has been declared a disaster area, the capital’s city hall said on Friday.
The Bangkok governor has been placed in charge of coordinating the disaster response, it said.
The earthquakes were also felt in Yunnan and Sichuan provinces in China and caused injuries and damage to houses in the city of Ruili on the border with northern Myanmar, according to Chinese media reports.
Videos that one outlet said it had received from a person in Ruili showed building debris littering a street and a person being wheeled on a stretcher towards an ambulance.
Previous quakes in Myanmar
Earthquakes are relatively common in Myanmar, where six strong quakes of 7.0 magnitude or higher struck between 1930 and 1956 near the Sagaing Fault, which runs north to south through the centre of the country, according to the USGS.
A powerful 6.8-magnitude earthquake in the ancient capital Bagan in central Myanmar killed three people in 2016, also toppling spires and crumbling temple walls at the tourist destination.
The impoverished Southeast Asian nation has a strained medical system, especially in its rural states.
Moreover, Al Jazeera’s Cheng said it was important to remember that Myanmar was a country currently in the grips of a bitter civil war.
“A lot of the people have moved from the countryside into the cities to try and escape,” he noted. “That has meant it is densely overcrowded and the building standards are not particularly strong.”
