A catastrophic set of earthquakes struck Thailand and Myanmar on Friday afternoon, destroying buildings — including a 1,000-bed hospital — and triggering mass evacuations, with thousands of people feared dead.
Tremors from the quakes, which measured 7.7 and 6.4 on the Richter scale, were felt as far as Bangladesh, India, Laos and China.
Locals and tourists in Bangkok described violent ground shaking during the earthquake — strong enough to send water splashing out of swimming pools from high-rise apartments and a skyscraper tumbling.
Here is what we know so far:
Two earthquakes in 12 minutes
According to the United States Geological Survey (USGS), an earthquake measured 7.7 on the Richter scale, striking 10 miles (16 kilometres) northwest of Sagaing, Myanmar at around 12.50pm local time.
The area, a popular destination for day-trippers from the royal capital of Mandalay, Myanmar’s second largest city, was hit by a second 6.4-magnitude quake just 12 minutes later.
A 1,000-bed hospital in Myanmar's capital Nyapyitaw was among the buildings that sustained damage from a strong quake, state media reported on Friday afternoon.
Thousands feared dead
The full extent of death, injury and destruction was not immediately clear — particularly in Myanmar, one of the world's poorest countries. It is embroiled in a civil war, and information is tightly controlled.
The US Geological Survey forecast has predicted between 10,000 and 100,000 deaths as a result of the quakes— and the disaster ‘is likely widespread’.
"The death toll and injuries are expected to rise," the head of Myanmar's military government, Senior Gen Min Aung Hlaing said as he announced on television that at least 144 people were killed and 730 others were injured in his country.
In Thailand, Bangkok city authorities said 10 people were killed, 16 injured and 101 missing from three construction sites, including the high-rise.
At least three people have been killed after a mosque partially collapsed in Taungnoo, in Myanmar’s Bago region, Reuters reports.
Meanwhile, three people have died and 90 are missing in Bangkok following the collapse of a skyscraper that was under construction, Thailand’s defence ministry confirmed.
Huge infrastructure damage
မန္တလေးမြို့က ရွှေဘုန်းရှိန်ဗလီ ပြိုကျ (ရုပ်/သံ)
— Irrawaddy (Burmese) (@irrawaddymedia) March 28, 2025
ဧရာဝတီ၊ မတ်လ ၂၈၊ ၂၀၂၅ #မြန်မာ #ဧရာဝတီ #မန္တလေး #ငလျင် #ပြိုကျ #ရွှေဘုန်းရှိန်ဗလီ #Myanmarearthquake pic.twitter.com/3hIrPgxflL
The powerful M7.7 earthquake in Myanmar caused severe damage and fire at Mandalay University. pic.twitter.com/SnMV7w93rf
— Volcaholic 🌋 (@volcaholic1) March 28, 2025
The earthquake has caused huge damage to infrastructure across Thailand and Myanmar, with images showing collapsed homes and places of worship being reduced to rubble.
Myanmar's state media outlet, The Global New Light, says the 91-year-old Sagaing Bridge (The Ava Bridge) connecting Malanday and Sagaing has collapsed into the Irrawady River.
Footage published on social media also shows Mandalay University on fire.
Bangkok city hall says Thailand's capital has been declared a disaster area, with startled residents and shoppers seeking refuge in nearby streets and parks.
Market trading suspended
The Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) has suspended all trading activities for the afternoon session on Friday.
The bourse operator said in a statement: "The closure affects all markets, including SET, the Market for Alternative Investment (MAI), and the Thailand Futures Exchange (TFEX), for today's afternoon session."
Thailand, with a gross domestic product (GDP) of nearly £400 billion, is the 9th largest economy in Asia.
However, Myanmar is considered one of the poorest nations in Asia, with a high poverty rate and a GDP of just £50 billion having been plagued by civil war following a military coup in 2021.
Common occurrence
Earthquakes are more common in Myanmar, compared to Thailand.
Between 1930 and 1956, there where six quakes of 7.0 magnitude near the Sagaing Fault, which runs though Myanmar.
Myanmar sits on the Alpide belt, the second-most seismically active region in the world after the Pacific Ring of Fire.
