Earthquake in Thailand: A high-rise building collapsed after a powerful earthquake measuring 7.7 on the Richter Scale struck Thailand's Bangkok on Friday. The visuals showed the towering structure crumbling to dust and sending thick clouds of debris into the air. As panic gripped the area, terrified residents were seen fleeing to safety. Defence Minister Phumtham Wechayachai said in all three people were killed at the site and 90 are missing. He offered no more details about the ongoing rescue efforts but first responders said that seven people had been rescued so far from outside the collapsed building. Rescue worker Songwut Wangpon told reporters another seven people had been found alive, as he spoke outside the tall pile of rubble that was once a high-rise building under construction.
The US Geological Survey and Germany's GFZ centre for geosciences said the midday temblor was a shallow 10 kilometres (6.2 miles), with an epicentres in neighbouring Myanmar. Meanwhile Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra has called an emergency meeting to assess the impact of the quake.
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Collapsed building identified
The video of an under-construction building collapsing has gone viral on social media. In a tweet, it was claimed that the identity of the building that collapsed in Bangkok has been confirmed. An X user stated that the building that was reduced to rubble due to the earthquake was actually the under-construction office of the country's Office of the Auditor General (OAG).
Additionally, several other videos have surfaced on social media, providing glimpses of the devastation that struck Bangkok. Thailand’s Department of Disaster Prevention said the quake was felt in almost all regions of the country. Speaking to the media, local police said they were responding to the scene near Bangkok’s popular Chatuchak Market, and had no immediate information on how many workers were on the site at the time of the collapse.
Earthquake jolts Thailand
The powerful quake rattled densely populated central Bangkok around 1:30 pm (local time) on Friday, triggering alarms across buildings and prompting swift evacuations from high-rise condominiums and hotels. Startled residents hurried down staircases, gathering on the streets under the scorching midday sun as tremors reverberated through the city. There were no immediate reports of injuries or casualties, however, the quake was forceful enough to send water sloshing out of pools, some high up in high-rises, as the tremor shook.
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