Myanmar-Thailand earthquake live updates: Over 1,000 dead, officials say
The 7.7 magnitude earthquake rattled much of Southeast Asia on Friday.
A powerful 7.7 magnitude earthquake rattled much of Southeast Asia on Friday, resulting in mounting casualties and flattened skyscrapers from Myanmar to Thailand.
The epicenter was in Mandalay, Myanmar, the country’s second-largest city. Even Bangkok, some 600 miles away, felt widespread shaking and saw significant damage from the quake — including the total collapse of a skyscraper under construction.
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Mar 28, 2025, 12:51 PM PDT
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More than 1,000 dead as search efforts continue
Casualties are expected to rise as search and rescue efforts are underway in collapsed buildings in Myanmar and Thailand, officials said.
At least 1,002 people were killed in Myanmar, according to the latest official death toll cited by the state-run MRTV broadcaster. Another 2,376 people injured were injured 30 others are still missing.
In Bangkok, at least nine people were killed and nine more injured when a high-rise that was under construction collapsed, according to the Royal Thai Police. More than 101 people are still missing as crews search for trapped workers, police said.
American couple talks about surviving quake
Garret Briere and his wife told ABC News they never could have imagined that their first vacation to Thailand ended up being one of the most terrifying experiences of their lives.
The couple from Washington state were in the mall across the street from the 34-story building when they saw it implode and crash to the ground.
“We ran out of the building because it started shaking,” Garret said. “I grabbed my wife’s hand and I said, ‘Don’t let go.’ Immediately, we were just covered in dust and debris, and we couldn’t see, and there were thousands of people just in a panic.”
It took just several seconds for the entire building to be reduced to a 7-story high pile of rubble, the couple said.
Death toll rises to 1,002 in Myanmar, 9 in Thailand
The death toll in Thailand from Friday’s earthquake has increased to nine, according to the country’s Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation. Another 1,002 have died in Myanmar.
Another nine people remain injured and 101 others are still missing.
The earthquake and its aftershocks caused damage across 13 Thai provinces as well as in Bangkok, the agency said.
A 30-story building that was under construction collapsed in the Thai capital on Friday when the powerful quake struck the region.
Search and rescue efforts were ongoing at the scene, with crews detecting 15 signs of life beneath the rubble on Saturday, according to Thailand’s National Institute of Emergency Medicine.
Rubio says US willing to help, but not actively assisting yet
Secretary of State Marco Rubio posted about the potential U.S. response to the earthquake, and seemed to suggest the president meant the U.S. was willing to help rather than actively assisting.
“My prayers go out to the people of Burma and Thailand who are impacted by the earthquake,” he wrote. “We’ve been in contact with these countries and, as @POTUS said, stand ready to provide assistance.”
Rubio also confirmed the State Department’s teams in the impacted countries were safe and accounted for.
The U.S. Embassy in Myanmar has suspended nonemergency consular services for the time being. The U.S. mission to Thailand has not reported any disruption in services.
-ABC News’ Shannon K. Kingston
State Department ‘evaluating the need’ for earthquake response
State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said despite the tumult at the U.S. Agency for International Development, the U.S. has maintained “a team of disaster experts with the capacity to respond if disaster strikes,” which are commonly referred to as DART teams.
“These expert teams provide immediate assistance, including food and safe drinking water needed aftermath of a disaster. The United States is evaluating the need for assistance based on requests and dynamic reporting,” she said. [14:47:29]
But despite President Donald Trump’s assertion that the U.S. is going to be helping, Bruce suggested the State Department was still in standby mode.
“What I can tell you is that we wait for formal requests,” she said. “We are ready. Obviously, we are watching what is transpiring.”
Bruce insisted that despite the funding flip-flops and reorganization of USAID, “there has been no impact on our ability to perform those duties, those requests for aid, if and when they come in.”
American recounts being stranded after earthquake
An American who was on a subway train in Bangkok when the earthquake struck recounted being stranded as transportation in the city ground to a halt.
When her train stopped, Sid Simone said she went on Facebook to find out what was going on.
“I saw ‘earthquake in Bangkok,’ and so at that point, I knew that the entire city was going to start to diminish,” the Michigan native told ABC Grand Rapids affiliate WZZM in an interview earlier Friday. “I have been trying to get home for five hours now.”
With no train service, Simone, who is in Bangkok to make a documentary on vegan food, said she got into a taxi but abandoned it when traffic came to a standstill and the vehicle was low on gas.
WZZM spoke to her as she was walking along a highway, still about an hour from home.
“It’s unfortunate because there’s so many people that, we’re all fighting trying to get home, but some people are trying to fight to get home because their family member is under that building, you know. Somebody didn’t make it home,” she told WZZM.
She told the station that her apartment complex was just down the street from where the under-construction high-rise collapsed.
“I was so blessed that I was not there today,” she said. “I could have been shopping in that area.”
Trump: ‘We’re going to be helping’
Asked about the Myanmar earthquake during a press event at the White House, U.S. President Donald Trump said, “We’re going to be helping.”
“It’s terrible what’s happened,” he said. “We’ve already spoken with the country.”
Trump did not elaborate on how the U.S. plans to send foreign aid.
State Department ‘not aware’ of any US casualties at this time
The U.S. State Department is “not aware of any U.S. citizens injured or killed” in the earthquake at this time, a State Department official said.
“We continue to monitor the situation closely and are in touch with local authorities,” the official added.
The State Department said in a statement it extends “our deepest condolences to all affected in Burma and Thailand by the earthquake that struck near Mandalay earlier this morning.”
Scene in Bangkok was ‘pretty insane,’ eyewitness says
Michelle Moody, an American living in Bangkok, was on her way to lunch with friends when the earthquake occurred.
“It was pretty insane,” she told ABC News Live. “I lived in D.C. in 2011 with the earthquake there, and being an American, I had an idea of what to do, but most people were just running around kind of crazy and just trying to escape buildings so as quick as they possibly could.”
In the aftermath of the quake, people were assessing damage to their residences and, with trains shut down, walking home, she said. Aftershocks remain a concern.
“I live in a high-rise, so definitely fear of aftershocks are something I’m worried about,” she sa
Witness captures Bangkok building collapse while driving on highway
Jack Brown was driving on a highway in Bangkok and thought he had punctured a tire when his vehicle swerved a little bit.
“I parked the car in stationary and realized that the car was still moving around quite a lot and I immediately knew then it was an earthquake,” Brown told ABC News Live.
Concerned about being on the elevated highway during the earthquake, he continued along and saw a building under construction collapse “in a matter of seconds.” He captured the collapse on video from his car.
“It was just horrifying to see that destruction, knowing that there are very likely a lot of people in the site,” he said.
At least eight people were killed in the collapse, as a search and rescue effort is underway for more than 100 who remain missing, police said.
Brown said he had never experienced anything like this in his 10 years of living in Bangkok.
“When you’re in an earthquake, you don’t know if you’re at the beginning of it, the middle or the end. Are there going to be any other aftershocks or any other earthquakes following this one? Are they going to get worse?” he said. “There was concern, but it was unprecedented for me, I didn’t really know what to expect or what to do, and I just wanted to sort of keep moving and get away from that zone.”
8 dead in skyscraper collapse in Bangkok
At least eight people were killed and nine injured when a skyscraper that was under construction collapsed in Bangkok, according to the Royal Thai Police.
A search and rescue effort is continuing into the night for those who remain trapped, with more than 100 people still missing, police said
Officials said earlier there were approximately 320 construction workers on site when the building in Bangkok collapsed.
144 dead, more than 700 injured in Myanmar
At least 144 people have died in Myanmar, according to the first official death toll released by the military government.
Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, who has led Myanmar since 2021, said 96 people have died in the Naypyidaw Council Territory, 18 in Sagaing and 30 in Kyaukse. There have also been at least 732 injuries in the country.
“Casualties are expected to rise,” he said. “Buildings have collapsed in several areas, and rescue operations are underway. I have personally visited some affected sites to assess the situation. I would like to call upon everyone to join hands and support the ongoing rescue missions.
He said a state of emergency has been declared and he has requested international assistance, a rarity for the turbulent country.
