A powerful 7.7 earthquake hit central Myanmar on Friday, close to the country’s second city of Mandalay, home to around 1 million people and historic temple complexes, with tremors shaking buildings as far away as the Thai capital of Bangkok.
Video posted online from both countries showed panicked residents running from swaying residential towers as dust fills the air, and traffic comes to a sudden stop on busy city streets.
Myanmar is already reeling from more than four years of civil war sparked by a bloody and economically destructive military coup, with has seen military forces battle rebel groups across the country. It remains one of Asia’s poorest nations and is ill-equipped to deal with major natural disasters.
“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.
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.
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.
Tremors were also felt in China’s southwestern Yunnan province, according to Xinhua.
This is a developing story and will be updated.