(Bloomberg) — Myanmar was struck by its biggest earthquake in a century, shaking buildings and triggering evacuations in neighboring Vietnam and Thailand, with least one tower collapsing in Bangkok.
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The quake on Friday measured 7.7 in magnitude, according to the USGS, which said it was 16 kilometers northwest of Sagaing, Myanmar and at a depth of 10 kilometers. It struck at about 1:21 p.m. in Bangkok and was the strongest worldwide since 2023, according to the US Geological Survey data compiled by Bloomberg. There was a second temblor of 6.4 magnitude around the same area, the USGS said.
“At first I thought it was the wind, until I saw people rushing out,” said Noi, a 60-year-old housekeeper in Bangkok’s commercial Pathumwan district who took shelter under a skytrain bridge and saw buildings swaying. “I was shaking and so scared. I have never experienced an earthquake this bad in my life.”
One person is dead and around 50 people were injured after a 30-story building collapsed in Bangkok, according to emergency services. The building had been under construction and one person remains trapped under the rubble.
The situation in Myanmar, which is suffering a civil war and under the control of a military junta, remains unclear. A state of emergency was declared in the Mandalay region, the capital Naypyidaw and in several other regions, the State Administration Council said in a message.
Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra declared Bangkok an “emergency area,” while the stock and futures exchanges halted trading. Bangkok’s governor said many buildings have been affected.
The Thai baht weakened 0.4% against the dollar while remaining within its trading range over the past week. Financial systems remain fully operational, the Bank of Thailand said, adding that it’s monitoring the situation closely.
The earthquake was strongly felt in the Thai capital, where people fled to the streets, and as far north as Chiang Mai. Paetongtarn, who was in a meeting in the resort town of Phuket, ordered immediate discussions on the quake, which witnesses said continued for more than a minute.
Thailand is setting up a 24-hour emergency center and arranging for all state agencies to respond quickly to the emergency, she said in a live broadcast on Facebook.