Over 140 dead in Myanmar and Thailand after a huge earthquake

A huge earthquake with a 7.7 magnitude has hit Central Myanmar, according to the USGS geological survey (USGS).

At least 144 people have been killed and 732 have been injured in the country so far, said Myanmar Men Ang Hling, military leader.

The epicenter was 16 km (10 miles) northwest of the town of Saga, at a depth of 10 km, sending strong tremor that felt to southwestern China and Thailand.

Meanwhile, 81 construction workers are missing after an unfinished tall building has collapsed hundreds of kilometers in Bangkok, according to the Deputy Minister of Thailand.

At least seven people were killed in the place in Thailand, according to the Bangkok Sofia Administration.

The Mandalay Savior, the second largest city of Myanmar, told the BBC that the damage was “huge”.

The total number of earthquakes killed and injured are expected to increase in the coming days.

There have been reports of roads that twist in the capital of Neu Pius Tau, and the country’s military government has declared a state of emergency in six regions.

The earthquake struck near Mandalay, which has a population of about 1.5 million.

A second quake hit 12 minutes after the first, according to the USGS, with magnitude 6.4, and its epicenter is 18 km (11.1 miles) south of the saga.

SOE LWIN, in the largest city of Myanmar, Yangon, said it felt the first earthquake of “long time” and added that residents were worried about the potential for more afters.

BUI THU, a BBC journalist who lives in Bangkok, told BBC World Service Newsday that he was home to cook when the initial earthquake happened.

“I was very nervous, I was very panicked,” she said.

“The Bangkok buildings are not designed for earthquakes, so I think that’s why I think there will be a lot of damage.”

Thailand Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra visited the destroyed building on Friday afternoon. The search and rescue teams are mobilized and the disaster centers designed to help with the rescue operation.

Such rescue efforts were hindered by political turmoil in Myanmar, which was confronted with a brutal civil war, as a military junta took power in a coup in 2021.

Following the earthquake, the junta made a rare appeal for international assistance, declaring a state of emergency in six regions.

The earthquake has added pressure on the humanitarian situation in the country, where 3.5 million people are thought to have been displaced by battles.

The sagas region, near the epicenter of the earthquake, is a variable key battlefield in the Civil War.

According to a recent BBC data projectThe country is now controlled by a patchwork of groups, which makes efforts to relieve and restore more challenging.

The state controls almost all local radio, television, print and online media, and the use of the Internet is limited in the country, which often makes it difficult for access to information.