BANGKOK (AP) — A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar on Friday, causing extensive damage across a wide swath of one of the world’s poorest countries and prompting officials to warn that the initial death toll — above 140 — was likely to grow in the days ahead. In neighboring Thailand, at least six died in Bangkok, where a high-rise under construction collapsed.
The full extent of death, injury and destruction was not immediately clear — particularly in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war, and where information is tightly controlled.
“The death toll and injuries are expected to rise,” the head of Myanmar’s military government, Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing said as he announced on television that at least 144 people were killed and 730 others were injured in his country.
In Thailand, authorities in Bangkok said six people were killed, 22 were injured and 101 were missing from three construction sites, including the high-rise. They revised the death toll Saturday morning from 10 reported the previous day, saying several critically injured people were mistakenly reported dead. Bangkok Governor Chadchart Sittipunt said that more people were believed to be alive in the wreckage as search efforts continued Saturday morning.
The 7.7 magnitude quake struck at midday, with an epicenter near Mandalay, Myanmar ’s second-largest city. Aftershocks followed, one of them measuring a strong 6.4 magnitude.
A woman reacts as she watches rescuers at the site of a high-rise building under construction that collapsed after a 7.7 magnitude earthquake in Bangkok, Thailand, Friday, March 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Wason Wanichakorn)
Myanmar is in an active earthquake belt, though many of the temblors happen in sparsely populated areas, not cities like those affected Friday. The U.S. Geological Survey, an American government science agency, estimated that the death toll could top 1,000.
In Mandalay, the earthquake reportedly brought down multiple buildings, including one of the city’s largest monasteries. Photos from the capital city of Naypyidaw showed rescue crews pulling victims from the rubble of multiple buildings used to house civil servants.
Rescue teams head to Myanmar
Myanmar’s government said blood was in high demand in the hardest-hit areas. In a country where prior governments sometimes have been slow to accept foreign aid, Min Aung Hlaing said Myanmar was ready to accept assistance.
A 37-member team from the Chinese province of Yunnan reached the city of Yangon early Saturday with earthquake detectors, drones and other supplies, the official xinhua news agency reported.
Russia’s emergencies ministry dispatched two planes carrying 120 rescuers and supplies, according to a report from the Russian state news agency Tass. India sent a search and rescue team and a medical team as well as blankets, tarpaulin, hygiene kits, sleeping bags, solar lamps, food packets and kitchen sets, the country’s foreign minister posted on X. Malaysia’s foreign ministry said the country will send 50 people on Sunday to help identify and provide aid to the worst-hit areas.
The United Nations allocated $5 million to start relief efforts. President Donald Trump said Friday that the U.S. was going to help with the response, but some experts were concerned about this effort given his administration’s deep cuts in foreign assistance.
But amid images of buckled and cracked roads and reports of a collapsed bridge and a burst dam, there were concerns about how rescuers would even reach some areas in a country already enduring a humanitarian crisis.
“We fear it may be weeks before we understand the full extent of destruction caused by this earthquake,” said Mohammed Riyas, the International Rescue Committee’s Myanmar director.
A Buddhist monk walks near a damaged building at a monastery compound after an earthquake, Friday, March 28, 2025 in Naypyitaw, Myanmar. (AP Photo/Aung Shine Oo)
Myanmar’s English-language state newspaper, Global New Light of Myanmar, said five cities and towns had seen building collapses and two bridges had fallen, including one on a key highway between Mandalay and Yangon. A photo on the newspaper’s website showed wreckage of a sign that read “EMERGENCY DEPARTMENT,” which the caption said was part of the capital’s main 1,000-bed hospital.
Elsewhere, video posted online showed robed monks in a Mandalay street, shooting their own video of the multistory Ma Soe Yane monastery before it suddenly fell into the ground. It was not immediately clear whether anyone was harmed. Video also showed damage to the former royal palace.
In this image provided by The Myanmar Military True News Information Team, victims caused by an earthquake is seen compound of government hospital Friday, March 28, 2025, in Naypyitaw, Myanmar. (The Myanmar Military True News Information Team via AP)
Christian Aid said its partners and colleagues on the ground reported that a dam burst in the city, causing water levels to rise in the lowland areas.
基督教援助組織表示,其在地合作伙伴和同事報告稱,該市一座大壩決堤,導致低洼地區(qū)水位上升。
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Residents of Yangon, the nation’s largest city, rushed out of their homes when the quake struck. In Naypyitaw, some homes stood partly crumbled, while rescuers heaved away bricks from the piles of debris. An injured man reclined on a wheeled stretcher, while another man fanned him in the heat.
In a country where many people already were struggling, “this disaster will have left people devastated,” said Julie Mehigan, who oversees Christian Aid’s work in Asia, the Middle East and Europe.
Myanmar’s military seized power from the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi in February 2021, and is now involved in a bloody civil war with long-established militias and newly formed pro-democracy ones.
Government forces have lost control of much of Myanmar, and many places are incredibly dangerous or simply impossible for aid groups to reach. More than 3 million people have been displaced by the fighting and nearly 20 million are in need, according to the United Nations.
Bangkok building collapsed in a cloud of dust
In Thailand, a 33-story building under construction crumpled into a cloud of dust near Bangkok’s popular Chatuchak market, and onlookers could be seen screaming and running in a video posted on social media. Vehicles on a nearby freeway came to a stop.
Sirens blared across the Thai capital’s downtown as a rescuers streamed to the wreckage. Above them, shredded steel and broken concrete blocks, some stacked like pancakes, rose in a towering heap. Injured people were rushed away on gurneys, and hospital beds were also wheeled outside onto a sidewalk.
Earthquakes are rarely felt in the Bangkok metropolitan area, home to more than 17 million people, many of whom live in high-rise apartments.
在擁有超過1700萬人口的大曼谷地區(qū),很少能感受到地震,許多人住在高層公寓中。
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Voranoot Thirawat, a lawyer working in central Bangkok, said she first realized something was wrong when she saw a light swinging back and forth. Then she heard the building creaking, and she and her colleagues fled down 12 flights of stairs.
“In my lifetime, there was no earthquake like this in Bangkok,” she said.
“在我的一生中,曼谷從未發(fā)生過這樣的地震,”她說。
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Fraser Morton, a tourist from Scotland, was in one of Bangkok’s many malls when the quake struck.
來自蘇格蘭的游客弗雷澤·莫頓當時正在曼谷眾多購物中心之一。
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“All of a sudden, the whole building began to move. Immediately, there was screaming and a lot of panic,” he said. Some people fled down upward-moving escalators, he said.
Nearby, Paul Vincent, a tourist visiting from England, recalled seeing a high-rise building swaying, water falling from a rooftop pool and people crying in the streets.
The U.S. Geological Survey and Germany’s GFZ center for geosciences said the earthquake was a shallow 10 kilometers (6.2 miles), according to preliminary reports. Shallower earthquakes tend to cause more damage.
Injuries reported in China
To the northeast, the earthquake was felt in China’s Yunnan and Sichuan provinces and caused damage and injuries in the city of Ruili on the border with Myanmar, according to Chinese media reports.
The shaking in Mangshi, a Chinese city about 100 kilometers (60 miles) northeast of Ruili, was so strong that people couldn’t stand, one resident told The Paper, an online media outlet.
blobsterry9
Is there anyway/channel in which aid could be sent? Absolutely hurts to see a nation & people I have always admired go through so much damage & pain. My prayers are with you Myanmar. Lots of love from Sri Lanka
EasterAego
I would be skeptical giving money to gofundme and the like. You don’t know where it’s going.
Doctors Without Borders (MSF), the Red Cross are all in the country and have years of experience handling emergencies there.
aguu36
Our poor lil country cant get break. Its like we are cursed from birth.
我們可憐的小國家真是無法喘息。感覺我們從出生起就被詛咒了。
Aggressive_Ad2520
As if hardship was not enough, now a calamity strikes. I don't think god exists after this. Its heart-wrenching to see myanmar go through so much. Praying for Myanmar from Nepal. More power to you guys.
legshampoo
is there anything we can do to help? any organizations to reach out to?
i am in the north of thailand and could get to myanmar in a few hours if it would help
IbtihaajAkbar
Can anyone tell me how the situation is in Mandalay? I have a friend living there and he hasn't texted since morning.
有人能告訴我曼德勒的情況嗎?我有個朋友住在那里,從早上開始就聯(lián)系不上他了。
topson69
Probably because of lack of internet
In mdy People are sleeping on the streets and roadsinfront of their houses with nosquito nets. Small earthquakesstill occur now and then andwe're worriedanother big one might hit
libertyriotwrites
This is so tragic and devastating. Are there already reports coming out of Bagan? I recall they experienced a powerful earthquake there in 2016.
blobsterry9
Is there anyway/channel in which aid could be sent? Absolutely hurts to see a nation & people I have always admired go through so much damage & pain. My prayers are with you Myanmar. Lots of love from Sri Lanka
有沒有什么方式或渠道可以提供援助?看到我一直欽佩的國家和人民經(jīng)歷如此多的破壞和痛苦,真的讓我心碎。我為緬甸祈禱,來自斯里蘭卡的深深的愛。
I would be skeptical giving money to gofundme and the like. You don’t know where it’s going.
Doctors Without Borders (MSF), the Red Cross are all in the country and have years of experience handling emergencies there.
我對通過GoFundMe這樣的平臺捐款持懷疑態(tài)度。你不知道這些錢會流向哪里。
無國界醫(yī)生(MSF)和紅十字會都在這個國家,并且在處理緊急情況方面有多年的經(jīng)驗。
Our poor lil country cant get break. Its like we are cursed from birth.
我們可憐的小國家真是無法喘息。感覺我們從出生起就被詛咒了。
As if hardship was not enough, now a calamity strikes. I don't think god exists after this. Its heart-wrenching to see myanmar go through so much. Praying for Myanmar from Nepal. More power to you guys.
好像苦難還不夠多,現(xiàn)在又發(fā)生了災難。經(jīng)歷了這一切,我覺得上帝可能并不存在??吹骄挼樵馐苓@么多痛苦,真的令人心碎。在尼泊爾為緬甸祈禱,愿你們有更多的力量。
omg this is terrible i am so sorry that's a lot casualties. i am sending prays for your people to be okay
天啊,這太可怕了。 我很抱歉傷亡人數(shù)如此之多。我會為你們的人民祈禱,希望他們平安無事。
Too bad the good old USA has gotten out of the AID business.
太糟了那個慷慨的老美已經(jīng)退出援助行業(yè)了。
Not all of us feel this way. I just pray that most are safe.
并不是我們所有人都能感同身受。我只能獨自祈禱大多數(shù)人能安然無恙。
My prayers for Myanmar, if there is anything I can do for you from The Netherlands let me know.
我為緬甸祈禱,如果我能從荷蘭做些什么,請告訴我。
原創(chuàng)翻譯:龍騰網(wǎng) http://m.mintwatchbillionaireclub.com 轉(zhuǎn)載請注明出處
That’s terrible. Stay strong guys!
這太可怕了。大家一定要堅強!
is there anything we can do to help? any organizations to reach out to?
i am in the north of thailand and could get to myanmar in a few hours if it would help
我們能做些什么來幫助他們嗎?有什么組織可以聯(lián)系嗎?
我在泰國北部,如果可以幫上忙的話,幾個小時就能到緬甸。
If you find any volunteer opportunities that do not cost much to join, please let me know, ill be in the area next month
如果你找到任何不需要太多費用的志愿者機會,請告訴我,我下個月會前往受災地區(qū)。
原創(chuàng)翻譯:龍騰網(wǎng) http://m.mintwatchbillionaireclub.com 轉(zhuǎn)載請注明出處
Can anyone tell me how the situation is in Mandalay? I have a friend living there and he hasn't texted since morning.
有人能告訴我曼德勒的情況嗎?我有個朋友住在那里,從早上開始就聯(lián)系不上他了。
Probably because of lack of internet
In mdy People are sleeping on the streets and roadsinfront of their houses with nosquito nets. Small earthquakesstill occur now and then andwe're worriedanother big one might hit
可能是因為沒有網(wǎng)絡。
在曼德勒,人們睡在街道上和房屋前的道路上,用蚊帳遮擋。小規(guī)模地震仍時有發(fā)生,我們擔心另一場大地震可能會來襲
This is so tragic and devastating. Are there already reports coming out of Bagan? I recall they experienced a powerful earthquake there in 2016.
這真是悲慘和令人心碎。已經(jīng)有來自蒲甘的報告出來了嗎?我記得那里在2016年曾發(fā)生過一場強烈地震。
原創(chuàng)翻譯:龍騰網(wǎng) http://m.mintwatchbillionaireclub.com 轉(zhuǎn)載請注明出處
brevity142
My heart and prayers to the Burmese people.
I hope the bloody war will end soon so that the country can rebuild itself in peace.
我的心與祈禱與緬甸人民同在
我希望這場該死的戰(zhàn)爭能盡快結(jié)束,這樣國家才能在和平中獲得重建。