Myanmar's Junta Declares State of Emergency as 7.7-Magnitude Earthquake Claims Lives

March 28, 2025 | 09:36 pm

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Myanmar's military junta government declared a state of emergency in several regions after a powerful earthquake hit the country on Friday, March 28, 2025.

"The state will make inquiries on the situation quickly and conduct rescue operations along with providing humanitarian aid," said a junta Myanmar's official statement on the Telegram messaging app.

Mandalay is the ancient capital of Myanmar and is at the heart of the country's Buddhist religious center. Social media posts show collapsed buildings and debris scattered on the streets of the city. Reuters could not immediately verify the posts.

The United States Geological Survey (USGS) said that the earthquake, which occurred at noon, had a magnitude of 7.7 on the Richter scale and occurred at a depth of 10 kilometers.

A powerful aftershock also occurred. The earthquake's epicenter was about 17.2 kilometers from the city of Mandalay in Myanmar, which has a population of approximately 1.5 million people.

"We all ran out of the house as everything started shaking. I witnessed a five-storey building collapse in front of my eyes. Everyone in my town is out on the road and no one dares to go back inside buildings," said an eyewitness to Reuters.

Another eyewitness in the city, Htet Naing Oo, told Reuters that a tea shop collapsed, and several people were trapped inside. "We couldn’t go in," she said. "The situation is very bad."

At least three people died after a mosque in Taungoo partially collapsed, two eyewitnesses told Reuters. "We were saying prayers when the shaking started... Three died on the spot," said one of two people who spoke to Reuters.

Local media reported that a hotel in Aung Ban, in the Shan state, was reduced to rubble, with one media outlet, Democratic Voice of Burma, reporting two deaths and 20 people trapped. Videos and images uploaded by Myanmar Now showed the roof of a market in the capital city, Naypyitaw, shattered.

In Mandalay, images of the outlets showed a clock tower collapsed and part of the wall near Mandalay Palace destroyed.

According to Reuters, several witnesses mentioned at least three people dead in Taungoo, Myanmar, when a mosque partially collapsed. Meanwhile, local media reported that at least two people died and 20 others were injured after a hotel collapsed in Aung Ban.

In Thailand, the Thai National Emergency Medical Institute recorded one death and dozens of workers rescued from underneath the rubble of a skyscraper under construction in Bangkok.

The Bangkok city government declared the capital as a disaster area. They stated the need to assess and monitor damaged areas and assist people who may still be at risk.

Eyewitnesses recounted that people ran onto the streets in panic. Many of them were hotel guests wearing bathrobes and swimsuits as water flowed down from an elevated swimming pool in a luxury hotel.

One eyewitness revealed that an office tower in downtown Bangkok swayed from side to side for at least two minutes, with doors and windows creaking loudly.

Hundreds of employees exited through emergency staircases as some startled and panicked workers froze. Loud screams were heard as the building continued to shake.

Outside, hundreds of people gathered under the late afternoon sun, while medical staff found office chairs for the elderly and shocked individuals.

The earthquake not only occurred in Myanmar and Thailand. The Xinhua news agency in China reported that a strong earthquake was felt in the southwestern Yunnan province, which borders Myanmar, but there were no reports of casualties.

Editor’s Choice: Strong Earthquake Strikes Myanmar, Buildings Collapse in Mandalay, Witnesses Say

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