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Topics: World News
Joe Harker
A skyscraper being constructed in Bangkok, Thailand, came crashing down after a massive 7.7 magnitude earthquake struck the neighbouring country of Myanmar, with two confirmed dead and many others missing.
While the epicentre of the catastrophic earthquake was in Myanmar, there were tremors felt in the surrounding area and according to ABC, buildings in the Thailand capital were evacuated as they were seen to be swaying from the impact.
The BBC showed that one skyscraper with a rooftop pool was swaying so much that the water started pouring off the side of the building.
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One building that came down altogether was a skyscraper which had been under construction. The structure collapsed within a matter of seconds, according to footage taken by onlookers.
They could see people fleeing the construction site before the skyscraper left the place a pile of rubble and kicked up clouds of dust, which people on the ground tried to outrun.
Bangkok police confirmed the collapse of the skyscraper, telling the Associated Press that officers were responding to the scene near the city's Chatuchak Market.
Police added that they did not currently know how many people were working on the construction site at the time it collapsed.
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Emergency services said that two people had been found dead and many others were missing, while seven people had been recovered alive from the rubble of the collapsing building.
There are around 17 million people living in Bangkok, many of them in high-rise buildings like the one that collapsed.
The effects of the massive earthquake struck Bangkok at around 1:30pm local time today (28 March), resulting in building alarms going off and people being evacuated from their homes out onto the city streets.
Thailand’s Department of Disaster Prevention said effects from the earthquake in Myanmar were felt in almost all regions of the country.
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Over in Myanmar, reports of the damage were less readily apparent as the country is suffering through a civil war, though there are reports that the Ava Bridge collapsed due to damage from the earthquake.
In the Myanmar capital of Naypyitaw, some homes and religious shrines were reported to be damaged.
According to the US Geological Survey and Germany’s GFZ centre for geosciences, the 7.7 magnitude earthquake had an epicentre in central Myanmar at a depth of 6.2 miles below ground.
12 minutes after the initial quake, there was a second one, which the experts registered at 6.4 on the Richter scale.
The BBC reports that while earthquakes are rather common in Myanmar, they are rare in Thailand, and almost all of the quakes felt there are from the neighbouring country.
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As such, their buildings are not constructed to withstand the impact of powerful quakes.