More than 140 people were killed in One of the very powerful earthquake that resulted in buildings and infrastructure collapsed, while a skyscraper under construction was also demolished in neighboring Thailand.

Most of the damage is recorded in the city of Mandalai, close to the focus of the 7.7 -magnitude earthquake that hit the area at noon. There was also a strong aftershock and many smaller ones.

A rescuer in Amarapura, an ancient city and today Mandalai’s suburb, said 30 dead were recovered from collapsing apartment buildings. “I haven’t lived this before. Our city seems leveled, “he said, estimating that one fifth of the buildings were demolished.

“We received calls for help from people who were trapped, but we cannot help them, we do not have enough hands, no machinery to move the ruins, but we will not stop the job,” he added.

General Mini Aung Hlating, the leader of the military junta who ruled in Myanmar, warned that there were other victims and asked all countries to offer help.

US President Donald Trump told reporters that he had spoken to “officials” in Myanmar and that his government would provide some kind of help to the country.

In Bangkok, Thailand, an official said at least 9 people were killed. Rescue crews are looking for survivors in the ruins of the collapsing skyscraper.

Mandalai, the second largest city of Myanmar with a population of about 1.5 million people, is the ancient royal capital of the country and the center of Buddhist worship.

Rescuers are trying to reach dozens of monks who were trapped in the wreckage of the Paya Taung Monastery, the rescuer, who spoke to Reuters from Amarapura, said.

Bridges, roads and buildings have been completely destroyed, residents and local media reported.

MRTV state television spoke of 144 dead and 732 injured in Myanmar.

Rescue and assistance efforts are complicated by the fact that the military junta has been involved in a conflict with replacement guerrillas.

“We all ran out of the house when everything started to tremble,” said one resident of Mandalai. “I saw a five -storey building collapsing in front of my eyes. Everyone in the city is on the street, no one dares to get in, “he added.

A rescuer from the Mae Sidanar charity, said at least 60 corpses of monasteries and other buildings in Pinman, near the capital of Naipida, had been recovered, and there are still many trapped.

In the capital itself, a hospital of 1,000 beds has been damaged and roads opened in the middle.

UN Secretary -General Antonio Guterres said the United Nations is mobilizing to support the affected.

Zin Mar Aung, the diplomatic spokesman for the opposition government of national unity, said that the fighters of the replacement organizations, the so -called popular defense forces, would provide humanitarian aid.

An American analysis based on the depth and size of the earthquake estimates that there will be thousands of dead and serious financial losses. The areas of Sagaying and Meikidila will be more affected.

State media reported that buildings were collapsed in five cities, as well as a railway bridge and a yogurt on the Yangon-Mandalai motorway. The shots show the damaged Ava bridge, above the Irauudi river, with its arches immersed in the water.

A resident of Mandalai said that in a district, Shane Pan, a fire broke out. The phones do not work and the electricity has been interrupted, he added.

According to two eyewitnesses, a mosque in the Taudo was partially collapsed, killing three people. “We prayed when the earthquake took place. Three people were killed on the spot, “the witnesses said.

In Aung Ban, in the state of San, a hotel collapsed and the “democratic voice of Burma” said two people were killed and 20 others were trapped.

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Amnesty International commented that the disaster could not happen at a worse moment for Myanmar, given the high number of already displaced residents, the major needs of humanitarian aid and the cut of US aid by the Trump government. Due to the restrictions imposed by the junta on the media, the exact picture of the disaster may not be clear for some time, said Joe Frimman, a specialist in the organization on Myanmar.

After overthrowing the elected political government of Nobel Prize -winning Peace Aung San you and in 2021, the army tries to impose its power, leaving the economy and basic services, such as healthcare, under dissolution. The armed opposition (groups coming from minorities and new, resistance organizations formed after the coup) has occupied territories and expelled the junta from border areas. Due to conflict more than 3 million people have been displaced and more than one -third of the population needs humanitarian aid, according to the United Nations.

Myanmar has also been affected by natural disasters and the internationally isolated junta finds it difficult to adequately cope. The country is on the meeting point of two tectonic plates and this area is one of the most earthquake -prone in the world.

Ni Ni Kiau, a professor at the University of Bristol, said that Myanmar is completely unable to face the consequences of the earthquake because of the “collapse of civil society”.

In Bangkok, Thailand, many people took panic on the streets – including hotel customers with their robes or swimsuits. The waters ran like a waterfall from the pool of a luxury hotel.

Eight of the nine victims in Thailand were killed when the skyscraper collapsed, the anti -governor Tavida Kamolvet said. The missing over 100.