THOUSANDS are feared dead after huge earthquake hits Thailand and Myanmar, destroying buildings and sparking fears major DAMS could collapse and lead to catastrophic flooding

Thousands are feared dead after a huge earthquake hit Thailand and Myanmar this morning, destroying buildings and sparking fears that dams could still collapse, leading to catastrophic flooding.

The US Geological Survey forecast likely losses of between 10,000 and 100,000 just after the 7.7 magnitude quake struck near Mandalay, Myanmars second largest city.

As millions reeled from the shock, a second earthquake with a magnitude of 6.4 shook the area 12 minutes later, the USGS and Germanys GFZ said.

Officials at a major hospital in Naypyidaw, the capital, declared it a mass casualty area, with the death toll expected to rise after buildings fell and debris scattered.

Professor Ian Main, Personal Chair in Seismology and Rock Physics, School of GeoSciences, at the University of Edinburgh said in the immediate aftermath that the damage is likely to be very severe near the epicentre.

The force caused a mosque in Mandalay to collapse, with at least ten worshippers reported to have been killed. 

Shocking footage showed workers fleeing in neighbouring Thailand as a high-rise building under construction collapsed around them.

At least three people were killed as the skyscraper toppled. Local authorities said that dozens of workers have been rescued from the site, though 90 are still missing. 

Workers were seen walking away from the building slowly when it began to topple as the tremors shook the Thai capital

Rescue workers walk past debris of a construction site after a building collapsed in Bangkok on March 28, 2025

Rescuers work at the site of a collapsed building after the tremors of a strong earthquake that struck central Myanmar

Rescue personnel work near a building that collapsed in Bangkok, Thailand, March 28, 2025

In Thailand, alarms went off in buildings as the earthquake hit around 1.30pm local time.

Startled residents were evacuated down staircases of high-rise buildings and hotels in densely populated central Bangkok.

They remained in the streets, seeking shade from the midday sun in the minutes after the quake.

The earthquake was forceful enough to send water sloshing out of pools, some high above the street in high-rises, as the tremor shook.

Witnesses in Bangkok said people ran out onto the streets in panic, many of them hotel guests in bathrobes and swimming costumes as water cascaded down from an elevated pool at a luxury hotel. 

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 Bangkoks 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.

Distraught workers are seen at the site of a collapsed building in central Myanmar

Workers assist an injured man after a strong earthquake struck central Myanmar on Friday, earthquake monitoring services said

Rescue workers near a collapsed building in Bangkok on March 28 after the quake struck

The quake was forceful enough to send water sloshing out of pools, some high above the street in high-rises, as the tremor shook

The earthquake hit Myanmar as it contests with a four-year civil war.

At a 1,000-bed general hospital in the countrys capital, rows of wounded were treated outside the emergency department, some writhing in pain, others lying still as relatives sought to comfort them.

In Mandalay, the countrys second-largest city and close to the epicenter, the earthquake 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 is 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 Myanmars largest city, Yangon, were also damaged.

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

The quake damaged buildings in Bangkok and forced the suspension of some metro and light rail services in the city.

Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra said on Friday she had interrupted an official visit to the southern island of Phuket to hold an urgent meeting after the quake, according to a post on X.

Huge waves washed over the side of an infinity pool in Bangkok as the earthquake struck

View of a collapsed building after the strong earthquake struck central Myanmar

Panicked residents stand outside an office building in Bangkok after the earthquake

A high-rise apartment was shaken so violently that pool water cascaded down the side

People hug one another following the huge tremors that shook buildings in Bangkok

People stand on a street after a strong earthquake struck central Myanmar on Friday, earthquake monitoring services said, which affected Bangkok as well with hundreds of people pouring out of buildings in the Thai capital in panic after the tremors

People evacuate an office building in Bangkok after the earthquake, with workers, residents and tourists seen running into the streets

Tremors were also felt in Chinas southwest Yunnan province, according to Beijings quake agency, which said the jolt measured 7.9 in magnitude.

Earthquakes are relatively common in Myanmar, where six strong quakes of 7.0 magnitude or more struck between 1930 and 1956 near the Sagaing Fault, which runs north to south through the centre of the country, according to the USGS.

A powerful 6.8-magnitude earthquake in the ancient capital Bagan in central Myanmar killed three people in 2016, also toppling spires and crumbling temple walls at the tourist destination.

The breakneck pace of development in Myanmars cities, combined with crumbling infrastructure and poor urban planning, has also made the countrys most populous areas vulnerable to earthquakes and other disasters, experts say.

The impoverished Southeast Asian nation has a strained medical system, especially in its rural states.