The epicentre was located about 17.2 km from the city of Mandalay, the second largest in Burma, which has about 1.5 million inhabitants.
— We all ran out of the home erstwhile everything started shaking. A five-story building collapsed right in front of me. Everyone in the city took to the streets, no 1 dared to go back inside – reported to Reuters 1 of the Mandalay residents.
Photos of collapsed buildings and debris on the streets appeared on social media, but have not yet been verified by journalists.
The Burmese authorities have not yet issued a communication on harm and possible casualties. The local Myanmar Now portal featured a video recording on which you can see a 90-year-old bridge on the river Irawadi, in the vicinity of Sagaing, about 16 km from the epicentre.
As reported by AFP journalists in the capital city of Burma, Naypyidaw, they cracked the surfaces of the streets, and parts of the ceilings fell in the buildings.
The land shook in Asia. Search for victims started
A Burmese fire brigade officer quoted by Reuters reported that the search for victims had begun in Rangoon.
Shocks of 7.3 were felt in neighbouring Thailand, and in the capital of the country, Bangkok, staff of offices and shops were evacuated, skyscrapers swayed, subway function suspended.
The land was besides shaken in Yunnan state in the southwest of China, where there were shocks of 7.9.
