by Mick the Ram

Extraordinary images have emerged of the moment a huge 40-storey building still under construction collapsed in seconds, leaving at least 81 people missing, many feared dead.

The shocking incident was one of many experienced after a 7.7 magnitude earthquake hit Myanmar, its neighbour Thailand, and parts of southern China.

A dramatic video of the building near Bangkok’s popular Chatuchak Market – with a crane on its top – toppling like a deck of cards, killing three workers immediately and creating a giant dust cloud which sent people running for safety, quickly circulated online.

The epicentre of the quake was near Myanmar’s second largest city, Mandalay, where part of the former royal palace was badly damaged and at least 10 worshippers were reported to have been killed in a mosque. 

In the Sagaing region – just south-west of Mandalay – a 90-year-old bridge collapsed, and some sections of the highway connecting Mandalay and Myanmar’s largest city, Yangon, were also damaged.

At least a further 20 individuals are believed to have lost their lives at one of the country’s biggest hospitals in the capital, Naypyador, leaving officials to declare a state of emergency.

Myanmar’s state television network announced that at least 144 people have died in the country, with 732 more injured based on the first official figures released by their military junta; they added that there will inevitably be many more deaths and casualties to report over the coming hours and days.

A strong 6.4 magnitude aftershock followed soon after the initial quake causing even more widespread devastation, with the highly respected US Geological Survey estimating that THOUSANDS of deaths are likely.

Civil war situation not helping

The added and major complication with this devastation, is the fact that Myanmar is still in the midst of a prolonged bloody civil war, meaning that it is not clear how aid will reach many of the affected regions.

Rescue teams and hospitals are now being reported as being completely overrun. Doctor Yan Naing said: “There aren’t enough doctors and space, patients are scattered inside the hospital right across Myanmar; I believe the death toll will be in the hundreds.”

Rescue workers hampered

In Bangkok, Defence Minister, Phumtham Wechayachai, explained that the construction site incident was a very difficult situation to manage as rescue workers there were severely hampered by the enormous mound of rubble generated by the collapsed building.

It was, he said: “too unstable for them to try and find people possibly trapped beneath”.

Gridlocked city

The sound of sirens echoed throughout the city’s central district and vehicles trying to escape left the already congested streets totally gridlocked. The elevated rapid transit system and subway have been shut down, complicating matters still further.

Right across the area people who had been evacuated from their buildings were cautioned to stay outside in case there were more aftershocks.

City never experienced “such devastation”

Worapat Sukthai, deputy police chief of Bangkok’s Bang Sue district, said the capital had “never experienced” an earthquake with such a devastating impact before.

“I heard people calling for help, saying help me and we estimate that hundreds of people are injured, but we are still determining the number of casualties and I fear many lives have been lost.”

Noise resembled a jet

Iana, a 40-year-old piano teacher from Russia was on holiday in the city and recalled how she had been in a nearby shopping centre when she heard the building collapse. “I hear the sound, it was like a jet.

“The building was shaking, shaking, shaking, so we went down to the first floor and then we saw all the smoke (from the collapsed building).”

Expert’s grim forecast

Dr Brian Baptie, a seismologist at the British Geological Survey, noted that most of the population live in buildings susceptible to natural disasters, which massively worsens the situation.

“When a large earthquake strikes an area with over a million people, many of whom live in vulnerable buildings, the consequences are often disastrous, and from initial reports, that seems likely to be the case here.”

Fear of further collapse

Everywhere, on every corner, people were on phones trying to reach loved ones. Others sought shade from the uncomfortably hot early afternoon sun.

Many more stared up nervously at the endless rows of very tall buildings in the densely packed part of Bangkok, fearful of further collapses and even more loss of life.