Dramatic new footage shows the moment a street was flooded with gallons of water falling from a rooftop swimming pool after a devastating earthquake. A 7.7 magnitude earthquake and an aftershock measuring 6.4 rocked Myanmar and neighbouring Thailand on Friday, causing dozens of buildings to collapse and leaving victims trapped underneath rubble.
At least 1,600 people were killed in Myanmar, the head of the military government said today, with thousands more known to be injured. Myanmar’s military-run government has declared a state of emergency in six regions. The earthquake, which struck 10 miles north-west of Sagaing in Myanmar, was also felt in some border regions of southeast China, where CCTV footage showed people desperately fleeing a torrent of water dumped on the street from a rooftop pool.
At the beginning of the clip, from Ruili City in Yunnan Province, panicked residents can be seen running down a city street while nervously peering behind them, before the fast-moving current eventually catches up and appears to completely submerge them. It is not known how many were left injured in the incident.
Similar scenes were also witnessed in Bangkok. Paul Vincent, a tourist visiting from England, was at a streetside bar when the ground began to shake. “The next thing, everybody came on the street, so there was a lot of screaming and panicking, which obviously made it a lot worse”, he told the Associated Press.
As he rushed out onto the street himself, he said he saw a high-rise building swaying and water falling from a rooftop pool. He recalled: “When I saw the building, oh my God, that’s when it hit me. There were people crying in the streets and, you know, the panic was horrendous really.”
In Bangkok, rescuers are also facing a race against time to save 15 workers feared to be trapped beneath the rubble of a building collapse in the Chatuchak area of the city. The Thai Army have been deployed and in excess of seven diggers are sifting through the rubble at the site.
On Saturday, Bangkok Metropolitan Administrator Governor Chadchart Sittipunt confirmed that some workers are still alive. It’s claimed they are three metres underground and cannot be reached to deliver food or water. He said up to 400 people scrambled to reach the stricken workers – who are divided into three groups – beneath the twisted wreckage of the 33-storey building.
Tourists who are currently in Thailand and Myanmar have been advised by the Foreign Office to “follow the advice of the local authorities or your tour operator” and “monitor local media”. Anyone who needs urgent help should get in touch with the nearest British embassy.
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