Powerful earthquakes struck mainland Southeast Asia on Friday with a soaring death toll feared as buildings collapsed near its epicenter in Myanmar and as far away as Bangkok. Tremors and shockwaves were also felt in Vietnam, Bangladesh, India, Laos, and China.
The United States Geological Survey (USGS) and Germany’s GFZ Helmholtz Centre for Geosciences measured the first quake at a magnitude 7.7, with its epicenter registered 16 km north-northwest from Sagaing at 1:20 p.m. local time at a depth of 10 km.
As the first reports of casualties began to emerge, USGS estimated a 35 percent likelihood that the death toll would be between 1,000 and 10,000 people, adding earthquakes in this area have caused secondary hazards such as landslides that risked further losses.
“Overall, the population in this region resides in structures that are vulnerable to earthquake shaking, though resistant structures exist. The predominant vulnerable building types are informal and unreinforced brick masonry construction,” it said in a preliminary assessment.
USGS estimated an equal 35 percent probability that economic losses would reach $10 billion, with a 29 percent likelihood this could extend to $100 billion, about a third of Myanmar’s GDP.
The quake was also registered in neighboring countries. A second, magnitude 6.4 quake, followed 12 minutes later in the Sagaing-Mandalay region of southeast Myanmar.
Online media was swamped with footage from across the country revealing the extent of devastation as scores, perhaps hundreds, of buildings – including pagodas and mosques – collapsed, sending plumes of dust into the sky. Mandalay has a population of 1.2 million people.
In Thailand, multistory buildings swayed as roof top pools dumped water over the sides.
A skyscraper under construction, with a crane on top, near Bangkok’s popular Chatuchak Market tumbled down. At least one person was killed and dozens of others were trapped under the rubble as thousands more were evacuated from nearby towers.
Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra called an emergency meeting and declared Bangkok a disaster zone after assessing the impact of the earthquake, but information out of Myanmar is notoriously difficult to obtained due to the ongoing civil war.
Myanmar junta leader Senior General Minh Aung Hlaing did not release any details of the damage but he has declared a state of emergency across six regions and made a rare request for international humanitarian aid.
Reports said the roof of the Mandalay International Airport had collapsed, with debris strewn across the terminal. Videos shared online showed hundreds of travelers running for the safety of the tarmac.
At least 20 people reportedly died while worshipping at a mosque. Paul Greening, a military analyst based near the Myanmar border town of Myawaddy, told The Diplomat: “It is Friday and Ramadan – there are likely to be more deaths from mosques collapsing.”
A “mass casualty area” was declared in the capital of Naypyidaw around a thousand-bed hospital, which was inundated with badly injured people. Minh Aung Hlaing reportedly inspected the site.
Another source added: “I’m hearing Mandalay is completely flattened.”
A source with the anti-regime forces in Myawaddy added her house was a shambles after the fridge and freezer “bounced around the house like tennis balls off concrete.”
“I know of at least one monastery that has also collapsed and there are many reports of skyscrapers and big buildings just falling down. There will be hundreds more buried alive. This is horrible, this country just can’t get a break,” she told The Diplomat.
Major earthquakes are not uncommon in Myanmar.
The Mandalay-Sagaing area is part of the Alpide Belt and the Sagaing Fault is one of the largest sources of earthquakes in Myanmar. A quake with a magnitude of 5.1 at a depth of 107.72 km and about 92 km northeast of Sagaing was measured by USGS on March 18.