2 powerful earthquakes rock Thailand and Myanmar, causing collapse of skyscraper being built in Bangkok

Bangkok — Two violent earthquakes rocked Southeast Asia on Friday, causing buildings in the Thai capital Bangkok to sway and prompting evacuations across the city, as well as in neighboring Myanmar.

A skyscraper under construction in Bangkok collapsed when the first temblor hit, Bangkok police said. A state of emergency was declared in the city. A major hospital in Myanmar was described as a mass casualty area. Trading was halted on the stock exchange in Bangkok. India was ready to offer “all possible assistance” to both countries, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said.

Medics said 43 workers were trapped at the building collapse site, according to French news agency AFP, which said the structure was going to be 30 stories high. Police told The Associated Press the scene is near Bangkok’s popular Chatuchak Market.

Several buildings also collapsed in Mandalay, Myanmar’s second-largest city, witnesses told the Reuters news agency.

The U.S. Geological Survey and Germany’s GFZ center for geosciences said the first quake had a magnitude of 7.7 and was at shallow depth of 10 kilometers (6.2 miles). Its epicenter was in Myanmar, according to preliminary reports.

An aftershock with a magnitude of 6.4 shook the region 12 minutes later.

Water from high-rise rooftop pools in Bangkok sloshed over the side as they shook from the first quake, and debris fell from many buildings.

There were no immediate reports of casualties and Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra called an emergency meeting to assess the impact of the temblors. He declared a state of emergency in the city.

The greater Bangkok area is home to more than 17 million people, many of whom live in high-rise apartments.

Alarms went off in buildings when the first quake hit around 1:30 p.m., and startled residents were evacuated down staircases of high-rise condominiums and hotels in densely populated central Bangkok.

They remained in the streets, seeking shade from the midday sun in the minutes after the first quake, and were cautioned to stay outside in case there were more aftershocks.

“All of a sudden the whole building began to move, immediately there was screaming and a lot of panic,” said Fraser Morton, a tourist from Scotland, who was in one of Bangkok’s many malls shopping for camera equipment.

“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.”

Like thousands of others in downtown Bangkok, Morton sought refuge in Benjasiri Park – away from the tall buildings all around.

“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.”

Thailand’s Department of Disaster Prevention said the first quake was felt in almost all regions of the country.

The epicenter of the first earthquake was in central Myanmar, about 30 miles east of the city of Monywa.

Myanmar is embroiled in a civil war.

Scenes of destruction in Myanmar

In Mandalay, which is close to the first quake’s epicenter, the first one damaged part of the former royal palace and buildings, according to videos and photos released on Facebook social media.

While the area is prone to earthquakes, it’s generally sparsely populated, and most houses are low-rise structures.

In the Sagaing region just southwest of Mandalay, a 90-year-old bridge collapsed, and some sections of the highway connecting Mandalay and Myanmar’s largest city, Yangon, were also damaged.

Residents in Yangon rushed out of their homes when the quake struck. There were no immediate reports of injuries or deaths.

In the capital, Naypyitaw, the quake damaged religious shrines, sending parts toppling to the ground, and some homes.

A team of AFP journalists was at the National Museum in Naypyidaw when the first temblor hit. Pieces fell from the ceiling as the building began shaking.

Nearby roads buckled.

The route to one of the city’s biggest hospitals was jammed with traffic. The 1,000-bed hospital was a “mass casualty area” after the quake, officials said. Rows of wounded were treated outside the emergency department.