Eyewitnesses describe earthquake hitting Myanmar and Bangkok | World News

Witnesses described the chaos when an earthquake hit Myanmar, with tremors feeling 560 miles in Bangkok.

At least 144 people were injured in Myanmar with more than 730, while eight people died in Thailand and 81 were trapped after a skyscraper collapsed.

Myanmar’s state broadcaster gave the first update on deaths on Friday afternoon, as the country’s army warned that there would be more deaths and casualties.

While emergency workers in both countries respond to the disaster, we hear of people in Bangkok and Myanmar who saw the natural disaster.

Myanmar earthquake latest: Follow direct updates

‘There was a lot of screaming’

Paul Vincent, a tourist who visited the Thai capital from England, was in a street bar when the earthquake hit.

“The next thing, everyone came on the street, so there was a lot of screaming and panicking, which of course made it much worse,” he said.

When he got out of the street, he saw a high building swinging and watering from a pool on the roof.

“When I saw the building, O my God, it was when it hit me,” he said.

“There were people crying in the streets, and you know, the panic was really horrible.”

“No one dares to go back”

The epicenter of the earthquake is about 20 km northeast of Mandalay – Myanmar’s ancient royal capital.

One witness in the city said: ‘We all ran out of the house when everything started to shake.

“I saw a five -story building collapses in front of my eyes. Everyone in my city is on the road and no one dares to go back into buildings. ‘

“I saw smoke just flying out”

The Thai Popster and actor Krissada Sukosol Clapp told Sky News about the moment he saw the Bangkok earthquake.

Clapp, a member of the Thai pop group Pru, said: “I was just next door, in another building, about two meters away … I ran into the building, there was smoke.”

He added that the sound was “almost like thunder, and I saw smoke flying out” and that the damage “looked like 9/11 to me.”

‘No earthquake like this in my lifetime’

Voranoot Thirawat, an advocate working in Central Bangkok, said her first indication that something was wrong came when she saw a light swing back and forth.

Then she heard the building cracked as it moved as a result of the tremor.

Ms Thirawat and her colleagues then ran down 12 stairs.

“In my lifetime there was no earthquake like this in Bangkok,” she said.

“I feel sick, it’s like a dizzy feeling”

Creamlie Sripputthakun, who lives in Bangkok, rode home on a motorcycle when the earthquake hit.

The 20-year-old told Sky News: ‘This is the first time for me.

“I feel so strange and strange as if I was dizzy.”

She adds: ‘I went home with a motorcycle and saw the buildings move.

“I just know to stay at home with my family.”

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Worshiper crashed three in the partial mosque

In Myanmar, at least three people died after a mosque partially collapsed in Taungoo.

An eyewitness said, “We said prayers when the shaking began … Three died on the spot.”

“It started to become violent”

Alex MacGregor, a PR consultant who has been living in Bangkok for six months, works from home and is waiting for the delivery of his lunch when the tremor started at about 1:30 pm (06:30).

“I was just waiting for the driver to come with my food and I looked into the pool and saw that the water was starting to lap on the edges … but then it started to get violent,” the 36-year-old, originally from Inverness in Scotland, said.

“I suddenly started to feel faint, like the kind of blood that felt like the head, and I was like, ‘Am I sick here, or what’s going on? ‘

He added: “Then I looked at the other apartment, which is a very high skyscraper, and I saw their pool water coming over the sides, and that’s when I knew it was an earthquake.”

Mr. McGregor said the earthquake was a ‘strange sensation’ and that it was as if things were moving in ‘slow motion’.

He added, “I actually sat down and sat down because I felt unstable on my feet.”

Despite the tremor, Mr. MacGregor said people were “strikingly calm” while an alarm went off in his building and told all residents to vacate.

“Shortly after I left my apartment area to come to a coffee shop … all the shops here in this eastern part of Bangkok were closed, so people fed into the streets,” he said.

“We knew there was going to be an aftershock, so I made my way to an outdoor space and there are many people just sitting here working on their laptops that are generally chewing.”

‘People who run the wrong escalator’

Fraser Morton, a Scottish tourist who is in Bangkok, says there was ‘a lot of screaming, a lot of panic’.

He was in a shopping mall in search of camera equipment when “suddenly the whole building started to move”.

“There was screaming immediately and a lot of panic,” he said.

“I started walking quietly at first, but then the building really started to move … Yes, a lot of screaming, very panicked, people run the wrong escalator in the escalator, beat and fall into the mall.”

Mr. Morton and thousands of others dumped from Benjasiri Park from shopping malls in the area, high increases and apartment buildings along Bangkok’s busy Sukhumvit road.

The park was seen as an open space, safe from nearby buildings with a high rise.

No warning system meant ‘immediate panic’

Cordelia Lynch, correspondent of Sky News’ Asia, was in the office when the tremor shocked the city.

She said: “Lights started swinging, the window panes shook, and people rushed down to evacuate the building.

“There was no warning – despite the fact that it was a country that came from a devastating tsunami twenty years ago.”

She continued: ‘One of the things I discussed with people in the loud striking coastal areas was the importance of a warning system.

“What’s hard to believe at this point … There were no phone warnings we were aware of.”

She noted that the Thai government responded to the earthquake by asking for the immediate launch of a cellphone warning system, but added: “What happened this afternoon was only immediately panicked.”