Updated March 28, 2025 at 12:22 PM ET
A powerful 7.7-magnitude earthquake has struck Southeast Asia, killing at least 144 people near the epicenter in Myanmar and injuring hundreds more. In neighboring Thailand, several were killed when a high-rise tower collapsed under the temblor's violent shaking.
When and where did the earthquake occur?
According to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), the earthquake hit around 12:50 p.m. local time (1:50 a.m. ET) on Friday, approximately 10 miles northwest of the town of Sagaing, near Myanmar's second-largest city of Mandalay. A 6.4-magnitude aftershock followed about 12 minutes later.
How extensive is the destruction?
The USGS reports that the earthquake occurred at a shallow depth of 6 miles, resulting in severe shaking and substantial damage in a roughly 125-mile-long, 10-mile-wide corridor stretching north and south through Mandalay.
Myanmar's ruling junta announced that at least 144 people had been killed and more than 730 injured.
Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, the head of the state governing council, said the death toll was expected to rise.
Social media posts from Myanmar show people seeking shelter on the tarmac of what appears to be Mandalay airport, with debris scattered throughout the terminal. Additional footage shows collapsed buildings and wreckage in the streets.
NPR has not yet verified the authenticity of these reports.
Myanmar's military junta has declared a state of emergency in six regions and states, including Mandalay and the capital Naypyidaw, according to the Associated Press. The Red Cross is struggling to reach the hardest-hit areas due to downed power lines.
In Thailand, dramatic scenes unfolded in Bangkok, where a 33-story tower collapsed near a major tourist market.
Videos on social media showed the building crumbling inward, creating a massive dust cloud as people nearby scrambled to escape.
At least three people have been killed at the site of the collapse and 90 were missing, Defense Minister Phumtham Wechayachai said, according to the AP.
According to The Bangkok Post. The building, being constructed to house Thailand's Office of the Auditor General, was about one-third complete, with workers from both Thailand and abroad on-site but had reached its full height.
As the temblor shook Bangkok, people across the capital fled high-rise buildings. Sirichok Saelee, 28, who works in a bank office on the 21st floor of the PS Tower in the city's center, described the moment the quake hit: "At first, I didn't know what was going on. I felt dizzy, like I wanted to throw up. Then the building started shaking hard, and I could see the glass windows moving. That's when my colleagues and I looked at each other and realized it was an earthquake. We started running for the stairs."
What comes next?
Chris Eades, the regional Asia representative for Church World Service, an international humanitarian development assistance organization, headquartered in the U.S., says rescue and recovery is difficult in Myanmar, which is experiencing an ongoing civil war.
"The infrastructure just isn't able to deal with something like this," Eades tells NPR from Bangkok.
"Even before the earthquake happened, things were incredibly difficult," he says. "There are enforced Internet blackouts in the minority ethnic areas ... So getting any information into and out of those areas or getting [them help] quickly and effectively is very difficult to do."
Michael Sullivan contributed reporting from Chaing Rai, Thailand.
Copyright 2025 NPR