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Massive Earthquake Devastates Myanmar and Thailand, Thousands Believed Dead

Published on March 28, 2025

Following a massive earthquake that struck Thailand and Myanmar this morning, which destroyed buildings and raised concerns that dams would collapse and cause catastrophic flooding, thousands are thought to have died.

Following the 7.7-magnitude earthquake that occurred early Friday in Mandalay, Myanmar’s second-largest city, the US Geological Survey predicted hundreds of casualties.

At 13.20 local time (6.20 GMT), a shallow earthquake occurred in central Myanmar. A 6.4-magnitude aftershock occurred minutes later.

After buildings collapsed and rubble was strewn, officials at a major hospital in the capital, Naypyidaw, labeled the area a “mass casualty area,” with more deaths anticipated.

“This is unlike anything I have ever seen.” We are attempting to manage the matter. A doctor told the AFP news agency, “I am so tired now.”

“The damage is likely to be very severe near the epicentre-based on the estimated intensity of ground shaking above, and maps of population density and vulnerability of buildings,” stated Professor Ian Main, Personal Chair in Seismology and Rock Physics, School of GeoSciences, University of Edinburgh.

According to the USGS’s seismic impact report, “the USGS ‘PAGER’ forecast loss is, sadly, most likely to be in the range 10,000-100,000 fatalities,” he stated.

At least ten attendees are said to have been killed when the force collapsed a mosque in Mandalay.

It is also thought that about 20 kids are stuck in a demolished school in Taungoo, central Myanmar.

Workers in neighboring Thailand were seen escaping in horrifying video as a 30-story high-rise building that was being built in Bangkok crumbled around them.

The skyscraper collapsed, killing at least three people. Although 90 workers are still unaccounted for, local authorities said that dozens of workers have been evacuated from the site.

A 7.7-magnitude shallow earthquake occurred in central Myanmar at 13:20 local time, shortly after 6 a.m. GMT.
Strong earthquakes that caused hundreds of homes to collapse were felt today in China, India, Thailand, and Myanmar.
Tens of thousands more deaths could occur, according to a monitoring group, and the number is continually growing.
The Red Cross warns that Myanmar’s infrastructure could be damaged by enormous dams that could rupture, flooding vast areas.
In Bangkok, Thailand, a high-rise apartment complex collapsed, leaving at least three people dead and 90 missing.
In Aung Ben, Myanmar, an eight-story hotel collapsed, killing two people and trapping twenty more.

In Thailand, the earthquake brought down a high-rise structure that was still under construction, causing a mushroom cloud of dust and debris to sweep across the streets of northern Bangkok.

As the concrete stack collapsed, workers wearing orange hi-vis jackets and hard hats were covered in dust, and dozens of people who were unable to escape were trapped beneath the debris.

The deputy police commander of Bang Sue district, Worapat Sukthai, told AFP, “I heard people calling for help, saying ‘help me’.”

“I fear many lives have been lost. We have never experienced an earthquake with such a devastating impact before.”

A massive pile of debris and twisted metal struts dwarfed the rescuers at the collapse site, which was only a few meters from the busy Chatuchak Market, a renowned tourist destination.

At least three workers were murdered, according to Deputy Prime Minister Phumtham Wechayachai, who told reporters that 81 others were trapped inside the building when it collapsed.

After the earthquake struck at 1:30 p.m. local time, shocked citizens from all around the city were evacuated via the stairwells of hotels and high-rise structures.

In the minutes following the earthquake, they stayed in the streets, looking for cover from the midday sun.

British expat Chelsea King, who lives in Bangkok, told MailOnline that when the first earthquake occurred, security personnel escorted her out of her building.

She reported “towering skyscrapers… visibly swaying” in the distance.

The force of the earthquakes caused water to cascade like waterfalls from many of these structures, which are hotels or condos with rooftop pools.

People were shouting in panic as they ran out of buildings, carrying children and pets, and the street was in a state of chaos.

“I was in shock, unable to process what I was seeing – it felt like something out of a disaster film.”

She managed to grab a tiny bag of essentials and save her cat, Mo, before fleeing down eight flights of stairs when they were eventually permitted to reenter.

The good news is that Chelsea’s building “appears undamaged”. However, she claims that structural damage prevents friends from going back to their homes.

“My partner, who teaches on the city’s outskirts, is also struggling to get back home, with the BTS and MRT [metro system] shut down and the roads at a standstill.”

When the earthquake struck, Kelly Rhodes, a visitor staying at the Okura Prestige in Bangkok, told MailOnline that they were evacuated down 24 flights of stairs.

“We are currently attempting to schedule planes out but it is mayhem,’ she added as airlines started to pause some flights.

“We can’t get out of the city. Traffic is at a standstill total gridlock.”

While the tremor shook, the earthquake was strong enough to send water spilling out of pools, some high above the street in high-rises.

As water poured down from an elevated pool at a luxury hotel, witnesses in Bangkok reported that individuals, many of them were hotel guests dressed in bathrobes and swimming costumes, fled out onto the streets in a panic.

Fraser Morton, a Scottish visitor shopping for photography gear at one of Bangkok’s many malls, described how the entire building suddenly started to move and that there was yelling and a lot of panic.

“I just started walking calmly at first but then the building started really moving, yeah, a lot of screaming, a lot of panic, people running the wrong way down the escalators, lots of banging and crashing inside the mall.“

Morton took sanctuary in Benjasiri Park, away from the huge skyscrapers that surrounded him, like thousands of other people in central Bangkok.

“I got outside and then looked up at the building and the whole building was moving, dust and debris, it was pretty intense,” he said. “Lots of chaos.”

The 38-year-old Londoner Mandy Tang was on vacation in Bangkok when she felt the shocks of the strong earthquake as she was in a movie theater.

“I was watching a film called The Red Envelope,” she said to the PA news agency. It happened to be quite an action-packed scene when the shake happened, so I initially thought it could have been Imax effect.

“I looked around and none of the local audience left their seats. However, my Taiwanese friend insisted it’s an earthquake, so I walked out of the theatre with her, and we met the security guards coming to evacuate us just outside the theatre. We could see the doors were opening and closing, all the chairs were shaking.”

Rows of injured people were being treated outside the emergency room of a 1,000-bed major hospital in Naypyitaw, the capital of Myanmar. Some of them were writhing in agony, while others were lying still while family members tried to console them.

“About 20 people died after they arrived at our hospital so far. Many people were injured,” a hospital doctor who asked to remain anonymous stated.

Along with some homes, the capital’s religious sites suffered damage from the earthquake, with pieces falling to the ground.

Videos and images posted on Facebook social media show that the earthquake destroyed parts of the historic royal palace and structures in Mandalay, the nation’s second-largest city and the area around the epicenter.

The majority of the homes are low-rise buildings, and although the area is prone to earthquakes, it is typically lightly populated.

A 90-year-old bridge fell in the Sagaing region, southwest of Mandalay, and parts of the highway that connects Mandalay to Yangon, the largest city in Myanmar, were also destroyed.

The Red Cross cautioned that the condition of major dams, which exposed the risk of flooding, was still a cause for concern.

Roads, bridges, and public buildings have all sustained damage, Marie Manrique, the International Federation of the Red Cross’s program coordinator, told reporters.

“We currently have concerns for large-scale dams that people are watching to see the conditions of them,” she said.

“The bridge that connects Mandalay to Sagaing has collapsed – this will cause logistical issues. Sagaing has the largest number of internally displaced people in the country.”

In the midst of a four-year civil war, Myanmar was struck by an earthquake.

The country’s remote military regime, which has lost large areas of its territory to armed groups, announced a state of emergency in the six worst afflicted areas in response to the destruction, making a rare appeal for foreign assistance.

Following a powerful, fatal earthquake that struck Thailand and Myanmar, EU leader Ursula von der Leyen stated on Friday that the 27-nation bloc was prepared to assist.

“Heartbreaking scenes from Myanmar and Thailand after the devastating earthquake. My thoughts are with the victims and their families,” von der Leyen wrote on X. “Europe’s Copernicus satellites are already helping first responders. We are ready to provide more support.”

The ‘big’ earthquake that struck Myanmar on Friday prompted the World Health Organization to activate its emergency management system, and it was mobilizing its logistics base in Dubai to provide supplies for trauma injuries.

WHO spokesperson Margaret Harris told a media briefing that the organization is organizing its response to the earthquake from its Geneva headquarters “because we see this as a huge event” with “clearly a very, very big threat to life and health.”

“We’ve activated our logistics hub to look particularly for trauma supplies and things like external fixators because we expect that there will be many, many injuries that need to be dealt with,” Harris said.

According to her, the WHO will also focus on bringing in necessary medications, even though Myanmar’s own healthcare system would sustain damage.

According to Harris, “we know very well what you need to send in first” because of the recent experience with the 2023 earthquakes in Turkey and Syria.

Beijing’s seismic service reported that the tremors, which had a magnitude of 7.9, were also felt in the southwest Yunnan region of China.

According to the USGS, six powerful earthquakes with a magnitude of 7.0 or higher occurred in the vicinity of the Sagaing Fault, which runs across the center of Myanmar from north to south, between 1930 and 1956. Earthquakes are comparatively common in Myanmar.

Three people were murdered in 2016 by a strong 6.8-magnitude earthquake that destroyed the tourist destination’s spires and crumbling temple walls in Bagan, the historic capital in central Myanmar.

According to experts, Myanmar’s most populated regions are now more susceptible to earthquakes and other natural disasters due to the rapid pace of urban development, deteriorating infrastructure, and inadequate urban planning.

The medical system in this poor country in Southeast Asia is under stress, particularly in its rural areas.

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