New Delhi:
Buildings shook and swayed, water feel out of rooftop infinity polls and people ran around in panic as an earthquake hit Myanmar and neighbouring Thailand, killing around 700 people with operations on to rescue others.
Indians, who form a large chink of tourists in Thailand, hurriedly returned home as the 7.2 magnitude quake hit Myanmar and its tremors shook Bangkok. At the Kolkata airport, Ranjan Banerjee said malls and offices were evacuated and the Metro rail was shut when the quake hit. Safdar, another tourist, told ANI that he saw skyscrapers shaking and water falling out of an infinity pool.
Sanjiv Dutta said his bed was shaking and as he joined the underway evacuation, he saw people were running in panic. “I came to the ground floor from the seventh floor and waited there for some time. There was huge traffic. It took 5-6 hours to cover 30 kilometres,” he told ANI.
Bharati Khurana told ANI that due to the emergency closure of all commercial spaces, they were not able to get taxis to the airport to return home at first.
Pranav remembered how everyone started running away when the hotel they were in started to shake violently. “We were in the Prince Pace hotel on the 24th floor, when the building started shaking violently,” he told ANI.
The Indian Embassy in Thailand assured that it is closely monitoring the situation, adding that no untoward incidents involving Indian citizens were reported so far. “In case of any emergency, Indian nationals in Thailand are advised to contact the emergency number +66 618819218. All members of the Indian Embassy in Bangkok and Consulate in Chiang Mai are safe,” the Indian Embassy in Thailand said in a post on X.
The quake, which was also felt in China and Vietnam, caused widespread structural damage.