A powerful earthquake struck Southeast Asia on Friday, killing over 140 people in Myanmar and injuring hundreds as authorities in Thailand searched for dozens of people trapped under the rubble of a collapsed skyscraper in Bangkok.
The 7.7 magnitude earthquake – centered in Myanmar – struck around lunchtime and was followed by several tremors, including a 6.4 magnitude aftershock.
At least 144 people in Myanmar have been killed and 732 injured, the head of the country’s military-run government said, warning those figures are expected to rise. Much of the destruction occurred in Mandalay, the war-torn country’s second largest city.
In Bangkok, hundreds of miles from the epicenter, rescue teams searched through the rubble of collapsed high-rise building where at least 110 people were trapped. Bangkok’s Deputy Governor Tavida Kamolvej told Reuters at least eight people were killed in the collapse and a ninth person died in another location of the city.
Images from Myanmar show buildings reduced to rubble, cracked roads and collapsed bridges. A section of a mosque toppled in the town of Tuangoo, killing at least three people. In the town of Aung Ban, a hotel collapsed, leaving at least two people dead and about 20 injured.
Myanmar’s military-run government declared a state of emergency in six regions. Before the earthquake, Myanmar was already experiencing a humanitarian crisis amid a yearslong civil war that broke out after the military junta seized power in a coup in 2021.
Zaw Min Tun, spokesperson of the military government, called on other countries to provide aid and asked residents to donate blood due to “so many” injuries.
President Donald Trump said Friday that the United States will assist Myanmar in the aftermath of the devastating earthquake.
“We’re going to be helping,” he told reporters at the White House. “We’ve already spoken with the country.”
Trump’s commitment comes as multiple international humanitarian organizations also vowed to assist Myanmar, including the United Nations, Doctors Without Borders, and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.
In a televised speech, Junta leader General Min Aung Hlaing invited “any country” to assist the struggling nation with humanitarian aid and said he had opened routes for international assistance.
Hlaing, who is the subject of an arrest warrant request from the International Criminal Court, has long opposed assistance from foreign countries, especially the delivery of aid to areas where anti-junta rebel groups are active.
His mass invitation and willingness to open humanitarian routes indicates the severity of the destruction. An analysis from the U.S. Geological Survey estimated there could be thousands of deaths and severe economic loss in the aftermath of the earthquake.
A clear understanding of the damage and loss across Myanmar may not be clear “for some time,” said Amnesty International’s Myanmar Researcher Joe Freeman, citing the military government’s heavy restrictions of media and internet access.
“That there appear to be more images and information coming out of Thailand than the epicentre in Myanmar is a startling reminder of the military’s crushing of press freedom since the 2021 coup,” he said in a statement.
Freeman said the earthquake has devastated a country already reeling from a civil war that’s left 3 million residents internally displaced and over a third of the population in dire need of humanitarian assistance. He called on the military to allow “unimpeded access to all humanitarian organizations.”
“This earthquake could not come at a worse time for Myanmar,” Freeman said.
In Thailand, the earthquakes triggered school closures and evacuations of high rise buildings, especially in the capital of Bangkok, which was deemed an “emergency zone.”
Thailand’s Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra told residents Friday evening that the earthquake damage was limited and aftershocks will weaken, adding that there’s no risk of tsunamis.
“It is now safe for everyone to return to their accommodations,” Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra said in a statement. “The buildings with issues are those under construction, where both structural integrity and wall stability are concerns.”
Contributing: Reuters