Over 144 People Killed, 732 Injured As Earthquakes Hit Myanmar, Bangkok

New Delhi:

At least 144 people were killed and 732 injured after six earthquakes – the biggest of 7.7 magnitude – hit near Sagaing in central Myanmar at 12.50pm (local time) Friday, state-run broadcaster MRTV said. 

The toll includes casualties from a hospital in capital Naypyidaw – which is likely to become a “mass casualty area“, doctors there told news agency AFP – from a mosque in Mandalay that collapsed while people were praying inside, and a university building in the same city in which a fire broke out.

Myanmar junta chief Min Aung Hlaing, who warned the number of dead will likely increase, has declared an ’emergency’ and appealed for aid, asking for “any country and any organisation” to step forward.

Tremors were felt as far away as northern Thailand, where some metro and rail services were suspended in the Thai capital. Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra broke off an official visit to Phuket to hold an urgent review meet, after which she too declared a state of ’emergency’ in the city.

China’s Yunnan province also reported strong tremors; the China Earthquake Networks Center said the magnitude was 7.9. And mild tremors were also reported from Kolkata in Bengal and parts of Manipur, where tremors of 4.4 magnitude were recorded as well as Dhaka and Chattogram in Bangladesh.

Tremors and aftershocks were also felt in Vietnam and Bangladesh.

No deaths have been reported from China or elsewhere, so far.