London – An earthquake with 7.7 magnitude has shaken Southeast Asia on Friday according to the Geological Survey of the United States.
The USGS reports that the earthquake was in Mandalay, Myanmar, but at least one person was killed and 50 others were injured when a building under construction collapsed in Bangkok when the earthquake hit the region on Friday, according to Thailand’s National Institute of Emergency Medicine (Niem), which said there were an unknown number of people who were still unknown.
The extent of the damage in Mandalay – the second largest city in Myanmar – is largely unknown this morning because it is under very tight state control. However, it is believed that the damage can be extensive as this earthquake is stronger than many other historic earthquakes – including the Northridge earthquake, which affected the Los Angeles area of California on January 17, 1994, which is remembered as one of the most destructive and deadly in California’s history. Bangkok is about 600 miles away from Mandalay and LED remarkable damage as well as collapsed buildings.
A police officer waves ambulances through when they arrive at a construction site where a building collapsed in Bangkok on March 28, 2025, after an earthquake. A powerful earthquake shook central Myanmar on March 28, when the tense roads in the capital Naypyidaw, injured buildings and forced people to flee out onto the streets of neighboring Thailand.
Lillian Suwanrumha/AFP via Getty Images
Niem said there were about 320 construction workers on site when the Bangkok building collapsed at 70 people is currently missing, according to a statement published on social media. About 20 workers are still trapped in the elevator shaft with the number of deaths expected to climb, Niem continued.
Alarms reportedly went out in buildings over the Thai capital as the earthquake hit around 10 p.m. 13:30, according to Associated Press.
People gather on a street after a strong earthquake hit central Myanmar on Friday, said earthquake monitoring services, which also affected Bangkok with hundreds of people pouring out of buildings in the Thai capital of panic after shaking, in Bangkok, Thailand, March 28, 2025.
Athit Perawongmetha/Reuters
“We were under the most important Sukhumvit -Earthback station, and we thought a train had crashed on the first shake,” a British citizen who is in the Thai capital of a business trip and wanted to remain anonymous told ABC News. “But as it continued, people started running outside and the hotels were evacuated to the streets.”
The Royal Thai Police said they help evacuate people from buildings across the city to secure areas, according to a statement published on social media.
Rescue teams are seen on a construction site where a building collapsed in Bangkok on March 28, 2025, after an earthquake. A powerful earthquake shook central Myanmar on March 28, when the tense roads in the capital Naypyidaw, injured buildings and forced people to flee out onto the streets of neighboring Thailand.
Lillian Suwanrumha/AFP via Getty Images
A video obtained by ABC News from a WeWork office in Bangkok shows water pouring from a roof -swimming pool as people ran across the office towards outputs.
Two of Bangkok’s most important public transport systems, BTS – an elevated train line – and MRT, which is mostly underground, have stopped earning as authorities respond to the demand of the earthquake, Thai police said.
Meanwhile, Myanmar’s reigning Junta has declared an emergency in six regions – Sagaing, Mandalay, Magway, Northeastern Shan State, Nay Pyi Taw and Bago – after the earthquake hit the country, followed by a number of aftershocks.
Myanmar is mirrored this year long civil war, and Mandalay is one of the largest cities than the junta still controls.
This is an evolving story. Please check back for updates.
ABC News’ Morgan Winsor, Joe Simonetti, Karson Yiu and Helena Skinner contributed to this report.
