A deadly earthquake ravaged Southeast Asia early Friday. Now, officials fear that thousands of people may be dead due to the devastating act of nature.
The 7.7 magnitude earthquake caused a large highrise to topple and collapse to the ground in Thailand in one scary moment. The natural disaster crumbled buildings to the ground. It also destroyed a mosque as well in Myanmar. Following the devastation, officials, rescue crews, and survivors are quite literally sifting through the rubble of their ruined buildings.
The US Geological Survey (USGS) estimates the death toil could range between 1,000 and 10,000. They issued a read alert writing, "Red alert for shaking-related fatalities and economic losses. High casualties and extensive damage are probable and the disaster is likely widespread. Past red alerts have required a national or international response."
Earthquake Hits
The organization also noted, "Overall, the population in this region resides in structures that are vulnerable to earthquake shaking, though resistant structures exist. The predominant vulnerable building types are informal (metal, timber, GI etc.) and unknown/miscellaneous types construction."
Meanwhile, survivors of the earthquake described the sheer panic that descended upon them. One tourist, Fraser Morton, said, "All of a sudden the whole building began to move. Immediately there was screaming and a lot of panic."
He added, "I just started walking calmly at first but then the building started really moving, yeah, a lot of screaming, a lot of panic, people running the wrong way down the escalators, lots of banging and crashing inside the mall. I got outside and then looked up at the building and the whole building was moving, dust and debris, it was pretty intense. Lots of chaos."
Meanwhile, another tourist, Paul Vincent, described the scene from the street.
"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 said. He saw the skyscraper topple due to the earthquake. "When I saw the building, oh my God, that's when ... it hit me. There was people crying in the streets and, you know, the panic was horrendous really."
