Yangon, Myanmar: A powerful 7.7-magnitude earthquake struck Myanmar on Friday, March 28th, according to the United States Geological Survey (USGS), sending tremors as far as Bangkok, Thailand, and China’s Yunnan province. Startled residents evacuated swaying high-rise buildings in panic.
The quake, recorded at a shallow depth of 10km (six miles), had its epicenter 16km (10 miles) northwest of Sagaing, near Mandalay—an area about 100km north of the capital, Naypyidaw.
People in Naypyidaw reported that roads were buckled due to the tremors, and chunks of ceilings had fallen from buildings. Cracks were also seen on roads in the capital as authorities assessed the extent of the damage.
Tremors were felt across northern Thailand and as far as Bangkok, located 1,400km away, where hundreds of residents fled high-rise condominiums and office buildings as structures swayed.
In Thailand, there were no immediate reports of casualties and Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra called an emergency meeting to assess the impact of the quake.
Thailand’s Department of Disaster Prevention said the quake was felt in almost all regions of the country.
People getting rescued from collapsed buildings in Mandalay, Myanmar after 7.7 earthquake #sismo #temblor #terremoto #tremor pic.twitter.com/DuUTpMETv7
— Disasters Daily (@DisastersAndI) March 28, 2025
The greater Bangkok area, home to more than 17 million people, saw pools in skyscrapers slosh over due to the quake’s force.
Eyewitnesses in Bangkok described the shaking as dizzying, with people evacuating to the streets. Some reported seeing water from the top floor of a skyscraper spill onto the street as the tremors rocked the city.
The earthquake’s effects were also reported in China’s southwestern Yunnan province, according to Beijing’s earthquake agency.
In Chiang Mai, a major tourist destination in northern Thailand, a resident named Duangjai described the panic: “I heard it while sleeping and ran out of the building in my pyjamas.”
Authorities in the region are monitoring for potential aftershocks and damages.
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