**Major Earthquake Hits Myanmar, Resulting in Casualties in Bangkok**
On March 28th, around 12:50 p.m. local time, a powerful 7.7-magnitude earthquake struck central Myanmar. Due to its geographical proximity, several areas in Thailand, particularly in the capital city of Bangkok, experienced intense tremors. In Bangkok, a high-rise building under construction collapsed, leading to casualties. A Chinese girl residing in a high-rise apartment in Bangkok went through a harrowing experience of fear and chaos during the quake.
The Thai Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation reported on March 29th that the earthquake in Myanmar had resulted in 9 deaths, 9 injuries, and 101 individuals missing in Bangkok.
According to local news reports, around 1:20 p.m. on March 28th in Bangkok, a young woman named Du Mei was jolted awake by a loud noise while she was sleeping. She initially thought someone was knocking on her door, but upon opening her eyes, she noticed water outside her window, assuming it was a burst water pipe from the upper floors. As she lay back down to sleep, she witnessed the walls of her room starting to crumble and felt a strong shaking.
Realizing it was an earthquake, Du Mei, who lived on the 25th floor of the apartment building, rushed to the staircase as the elevator was out of order. In the next five minutes, she experienced the most terrifying moments of her life…
“It was all people. Some were carrying children, some were not wearing pants or shoes, and two girls came out naked. The staircase was narrow, only allowing two people at a time, so with the amount of people, no one could run fast. Many had blood on them and some had broken bones from falling. My legs started to feel weak halfway through…”
Du Mei, a post-90s Shanghai native who had been working in Thailand for six months, mentioned that she only had about 50 seconds from realizing the earthquake to starting to descend the stairs, leaving no time for initial reaction. Some overweight individuals in the flowing crowd struggled to keep pace, causing a bottleneck, with people pushing forward despite the chaos. Many people fell along the way.
“By the time I reached the 15th floor, my legs started to give out because I don’t exercise regularly. But I kept holding onto the railing, telling myself that if I fell, I wouldn’t be able to get up and people behind me would trample me, so I had to take each step carefully,” Du Mei recalled.
Meanwhile, Wang Lin, a Ph.D. candidate at Thammasat University in Bangkok, was taking an online exam in her apartment when the earthquake struck. “The desk and bed were shaking violently, and I felt dizzy, thinking it was due to skipping breakfast.”
Suspecting an earthquake, Wang Lin swiftly shut down all electronic devices, hid under her desk for approximately two to three minutes, and then opened her window to ask the downstairs neighbor if it was an earthquake. Upon confirmation, she ran downstairs, realizing she had forgotten her belongings and dashed back to grab her computer.
Following the earthquake, Bangkok was declared in a state of emergency. Du Mei’s apartment, located in a bustling area of the city, housed around 50% Chinese residents, 30% Westerners, and 20% Thais. After evacuating the building, the residents, still shaken, observed that their apartment building seemed slightly tilted. The high-rise buildings in Bangkok typically have rooftop pools, and during the earthquake, water overflowing from these pools splashed against the windows, further alarming the residents.