(JUST IN) WORLD NEWS: 7.7-MAGNITUDE QUAKE HITS MYANMAR
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Agency Report
Near Mandalay, the nation’s second-largest city with a population of about a million and ancient temple complexes, a strong 7.7 earthquake struck central Myanmar on Friday. Buildings as far away as Bangkok, the capital of Thailand, were rocked by the tremors.
While dust fills the air and traffic suddenly stops on busy city streets, terrified residents are seen fleeing from swaying residential towers in both countries’ online footage.
Myanmar is already recovering from more than four years of civil war launched by a brutal and economically devastating military coup that has seen military forces combat rebel groups across the country. It is still among the poorest countries in Asia and lacks the capacity to handle significant natural disasters.
One resident in Yangon, Myanmar’s commercial hub and around 380 miles away from the epicenter, told CNN: “We felt the quake for about one minute and then we ran out of the building.”
“We saw other people running out of the buildings too. It was very sudden and very strong.”
Another resident said phone networks in the city home to around 8 million people were briefly down following the quake but were now running again.
Video obtained by CNN from Myanmar appeared to show a road bridge spanning the Irrawaddy River that runs through Mandalay, collapsing into the river in a cloud of dust and water.
The epicenter was in nearby Sagaing region, which has been ravaged by the civil war, with the junta, pro-military militia and rebel groups battling for control and all running checkpoints, making travel by road or river extremely difficult.
In an early indication of the quake’s strength, tremors were felt not just in Thailand, but also China’s southwestern Yunnan province.
Video posted to X showed the collapse of a building in Chatuchak Park, Bangkok. The building, which appeared to be under construction, fell in a matter of seconds, kicking up a cloud of dust.
The National Institute for Emergency medicine says 43 people were trapped in the building while seven others have been injured.
A resident in Thailand’s northern city of Chiang Mai, who also did not want to be named, said “I felt it for about ten seconds in my room then I figured out I couldn’t stay inside. So I rushed out on to the street.”
CNN
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