Southeast Asia has been hit by a massive earthquake, which according to initial analyses had a magnitude of 7,7 with an epicentre in central Myanmar.
First reports of damage are coming from Myanmar itself. In Bangkok, an apartment complex under construction has collapsed.
Two dead in Bangkok
Two people have died in Bangkok after a building collapsed, local emergency services said, while seven people were pulled alive from the rubble.
The Thai capital has been declared a disaster area, state media reported, with the city's governor in charge of the rescue operation.
Major earthquake
A massive earthquake measuring 7,7 on the Richter scale shook Bangkok on Friday afternoon. Skyscrapers began to sway, buildings had to be evacuated and panic broke out on the streets. Public life in the metropolis came to an abrupt halt.
According to the US Geological Survey and the German GFZ Center for Earth Sciences, the epicentre was in the border area with Myanmar, at a depth of about 10 kilometres. The force of the quake was therefore also felt in Thailand.
Although Thailand itself is rarely the epicenter of major earthquakes, Bangkok is particularly susceptible to tremors in the region due to its location on soft, marshy ground. The city has a population of more than 17 million, many of whom live in high-rise buildings.
Panic in shopping malls and on the streets
The quake was felt around 13.30:XNUMX p.m. local time. Alarms quickly went off in several buildings. Apartment residents and hotel guests fled via stairwells. On the streets, people sought shade from the hot sun en masse, while they tried to reach their loved ones.
Fraser Morton, a tourist from Scotland, was in a shopping mall when the quake hit. “Suddenly the whole building started to shake. There was immediate screaming and panic,” he says. “I started walking calmly, but when the building really started to shake, everyone started running in all directions. There was banging, creaking, and people running the wrong way on the escalators.”
In the popular Sukhumvit Road area, thousands of people fled to Benjasiri Park, some calling in panic, others staring up at the swaying buildings.
Paul Vincent, a tourist from England, also experienced it. “I was on the street at a bar when everything started shaking. Everyone rushed outside. I saw a building swaying and water pouring down from a rooftop pool. The panic on the street was intense.”
Zsuzsanna Vari-Kovacs, a Hungarian resident of Bangkok, was sitting in a restaurant when the earth began to shake. “I have experienced earthquakes in Myanmar before, but they were short. This one lasted for at least a minute. My husband was in his apartment at the time, which I found even scarier.”
Emergency services deployed, city declared disaster area
The quake also caused damage. Among other things, a high-rise building under construction partially collapsed. Emergency services were called into action en masse. Sirens screamed through the city, traffic came to a standstill and public transport came to a standstill. Both the above-ground BTS system and the underground metro were shut down.
Bangkok City Hall has declared the city a disaster area to better coordinate relief efforts. Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra called an emergency meeting to discuss the situation and take further measures.
Myanmar hit hard, bridges and palaces damaged
In Myanmar, where the epicentre was, there were also many reports of damage. In Mandalay, the country's second-largest city, parts of the former royal palace were damaged. In Sagaing province, a 90-year-old bridge collapsed and parts of the highway to Yangon were damaged.
In Naypyitaw, the administrative capital, religious buildings collapsed and several houses collapsed. In Yangon, residents ran into the streets in panic. There have been no official reports of deaths or serious injuries, but the damage is considerable.
Damage and injuries also reported in China after heavy shocks
The quake was also felt in parts of China, particularly in Yunnan and Sichuan provinces. In the border city of Ruili, houses were damaged and people were injured. Local media showed images of debris on the street and a person being carried to an ambulance on a stretcher.
In the city of Mangshi, about 100 kilometers northeast of Ruili, the tremors were so intense that people could not stand. The shaking was also clearly felt in Kunming, the capital of Yunnan. "My ceiling light was swinging wildly," said a resident there. "It lasted for at least ten seconds."
Situation remains uncertain
The earthquake has caused disruption, damage and panic in several countries in the region. Emergency services are on high alert and are taking into account possible aftershocks.
The coming hours remain crucial for the relief efforts and damage assessment. Follow the latest news from reliable sources and stay alert.
Also in the province Chiang Rai damage, I see on the internet. Among others a collapsed viaduct under construction for the railway line under construction, in Pa Daet.
We didn't notice anything like that in Kanchanaburi/LatYa.
Knew it fits via social media.
Strange, huh? I think it must have something to do with the fault line or something.
Didn't feel anything in Pattaya either, although apparently there are people in Jomtien who did feel something.
In Kanchanaburi we are a lot closer to the epicenter (Mandalay) I think. Strange.
https://www.hln.be/buitenland/tijd-tikt-voor-tientallen-bouwvakkers-onder-puin-in-bangkok-minstens-drie-doden~a006986b/
We were also in Kanchanaburi yesterday and the staff came to ask if we had felt anything too
Not us but apparently they did...it was 13.30:XNUMX pm then
Strange but true
Greetings, Joop
Well, we live here and my wife asked neighbors and friends afterwards and no one had felt anything.
Strange and weird indeed.
Yes, we in Jomtien too. My husband suddenly said, look at the pool. The water was rippling away from the cat and coming back and over the edge. There must have been an earthquake somewhere. Good luck
for all the people who are in the middle of kittening.
Louise
In 1983 the city of Liège shook. I lived on the sixth floor of a flat in Weert (90 km from Liège) and felt my bed shaking. Colleagues in the office who lived in a normal house had not noticed anything. That could also play a role.
I still remember that.
The Brussels-Antwerp railway line runs about 100 metres behind our house and that house is also 90 km from Liège and my mother said “Wow, that was a heavy locomotive that passed by” …
But I think the difference here is quite big compared to what people felt in Bangkok and what we felt nothing at all in Kanchanaburi.
The one in Liège was “only” 4.9…
Distance, the vibration frequency of the earthquake, the type of ground you are on, the construction of the building you are in. This is how it can happen that in one building there is little or no noticeable vibration, while the building next to it is shaking violently or collapsing. There are probably documentaries on YouTube that explain this further.
Sad for the people (including construction workers) who suddenly became victims of this natural disaster.
Nakhon Sawan felt no damage as far as is known.
Skytrain in Bangkok still not started according to Facebook post 17.15 Thai time.
Suspect chaos on the road. Anyone have any current info on this?
Coincidentally, my wife and I had an appointment at VFS Global today at 14.30:XNUMX PM. More than an hour beforehand, we were sitting in the same shopping mall in Chamchuri drinking coffee when suddenly everything started to move. Very strange, never experienced that before. Everything moved very softly back and forth, at first I thought I was getting dizzy, my wife had exactly the same feeling. Then we suddenly saw all the lights swinging back and forth, a few people started to panic and within a few seconds security guards were running around, loudly urging everyone to go outside, where all the streets quickly filled up.
And I didn't notice any blind panic or much fear as I've read here and there. Everyone was quite calm, surprised too, and was quietly waiting for what would happen. Nothing really happened after that, after which many people seemed to slowly go home. There was a huge traffic chaos though, it took more than 5 (!) hours before we were out of Bangkok.
Unfortunately we have to make our trip again. We can still come next week without a new appointment, that would be nice.
Here in Pattaya, by the railway, a few minutes of heavy shaking. House was shaking and doors were jumping open. Scary to experience.
My Thai daughter-in-law receives many videos. Of the metro that is just shaking back and forth and people at the station holding each other to not fall. Also a video of the train track under construction in Chiang Rai, parts of a viaduct with a truck underneath. Shocking images. Strength for everyone who has to deal with it.
Nonthaburi: no damage, two or three small vibrations.
Ploenchit and surrounding area hit harder.
Brussels-Antwerp railway line without damage.
In Chiangmai Hang Dong the quake was clearly felt twice in a row with a few seconds in between. According to English-language Facebook groups, several tall apartment buildings in the city centre and around Central Festival have been subjected to extra inspection. Because Chiangmai and the surrounding area are built according to earthquake-resistant standards, there is virtually no damage, except here and there in private homes from loose and hanging materials. So far there have also been no reports of bridges and/or viaducts giving way. An evacuation plan seems to have been put into effect immediately in hospitals and government buildings and everyone had to go outside. In the old city it was clearly visible that the water in the canals was sloshing back and forth between the banks. According to Chiangmai News the quake in Myanmar had a magnitude of 2 Richter and Chiangmai had to deal with 8,2 Richter. At the end of the afternoon all calm had returned and daily life resumed as normal. Fortunately.
Is this earthquake-resistant construction the reason for much less reports of damage in Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai? Everything is more or less about the splashing swimming pools in BKK, as if Thailand consists of BKK and some surrounding win-counties, and of course that one tower under construction, that collapsed. Furthermore: some cracked tiles and some cracks in a few tiles at my girlfriend's house, next to Vibhavadee zhs.
Dear Harry, Of course Bangkok is not the only city that exists in Thailand.
Only when it is hit by the effects of an earthquake do the very tall buildings, which are of course much more abundant in Bangkok than in the rest of Thailand, suffer much more.
A building with 30 or more floors, which can sway considerably on the top floor, is much less subject to this sway on the lower floors.
If your girlfriend's house had been on the 30th floor, it might have been more than just a few cracked tiles.
Didn't notice anything in Trat.
Bangkok is 1000 km from the epicenter in Myanmar.
You would almost think there were two earthquakes at the same time.
It probably also has to do with the fact that BKK was built in a swamp-like subsoil, there are reports that BKK is sinking a little every year.
Perhaps a few more centimeters were added yesterday.
That does indeed seem to be one of the reasons. De Volkskrant had an interesting article about this yesterday:
“The fault occurred about 15 kilometres under the city of Mandalay, very close to the earth's crust. That explains why the damage is so great: a deeper quake would have been dampened by the earth's crust on its way. The fact that the fault was so shallow also explains why the wave could reach Bangkok. The shallower an earthquake, the more energy the shock waves receive: like swells of a water surface. As a result, the quake also caused damage a thousand kilometres away.
This raises the question of why there are few reports of damage in Bangladesh, China and other places around the epicenter Mandalay. Not all consequences of the quake are clear yet, but still: why do other large cities in surrounding countries seem to be 'spared'?
Scientists are still busy discussing what the reason could be, but Arwen Deuss, professor at Utrecht University, has an idea: 'Shock waves from the tectonic plates gradually lose their energy', she says. This dampening force of the tectonic plates is related to the composition of the earth's crust. That composition is far from the same everywhere. 'Between Mandalay and Bangkok there may be a hard piece of crust, which allows the wave to travel further. Towards the east and west of Mandalay the crust could be softer, which causes the wave to lose its energy more quickly'.
In addition, Bangkok is located in a large river basin against the Gulf of Thailand, which means that parts of the city are on softer ground. This makes buildings more likely to collapse during an earthquake. Soft ground also contributed to the devastation in Mandalay: the city is located next to the country's largest river, the Irrawaddy."
I feel for the people who have lost their lives and loved ones. The panic that can break out in such a packed city, because you can hardly go anywhere. And especially because people in Bangkok are not used to that and the buildings there are not built for earthquakes, like in Japan.
I myself have experienced earthquakes there several times, the worst of which was in Kobe. We were landing in Osaka and drove three hours instead of one hour to get to the hotel. The damage was also great there and there were aftershocks all the time.
Hopefully things will improve in Thailand and Myanmar from now on.
Here in Korat the quake was felt well. Was with my wife visiting the dentist in ST MARYS hospital.
I was reading a book on my phone.
Suddenly everything started moving, I thought there was something wrong with me, like a stroke or something.
Then I saw everything moving and felt the floor “dancing”
My wife was already being treated by the dentist, so I went to the dentist and my wife
taken outside. We then drove home and before we entered our house we
did a check round to see if there were any cracks in the walls, that was OK. All in all a
experience never to be forgotten
We left Bangkok at 10.30:3 local time on a flight to Istanbul. We were in the air for XNUMX hours and didn't notice the earthquake. It was only when we got home that we heard from family what had happened.
“We were in the air for 3 hours and didn't notice the earthquake”
I would actually be surprised if you noticed anything in the air 🙂
In the air they call that turbulence, but on Earth you don't feel anything of it.
All my support goes to the Thais and foreigners in Bangkok during this period of natural disasters. that the injured will recover quickly and services will be able to function again. I would also like to learn from this disaster and prevent future earthquakes by better preparing buildings for underground vibrations. Much encouragement from Spain!
In my place in Pasang Lamphun province the shocks were very noticeable.
So I quickly fled my house when the second cycle started and sat outside for a while, shaking.
The two balls of a Zaan clock hanging on the wall were seen swinging back and forth more than 10 cm when leaving the house.
Never experienced anything like this before and I hope it was the last time.
By the way, my house and outbuildings and in the immediate vicinity no damage. The feeling is that the whole house is going back and forth, scary.
My wife was at my stepson's house in Chiangmai and had the same experience.
My stepson has many colleagues in the office in Bangkok who work for the same company and many of them came home with damage to their apartments, mostly cracks in the walls and bits of rubble on the floor.