NEW DELHI: Indian tourists who returned from earthquake-hit Thailand recounted the “emergency situation” of experiencing the deadly tremors on Friday. A series of earthquake jolted Myanmar, tremors of which were also felt in the neighbouring country of Thailand.
Describing the situation, Safdar, returning from Bangkok said, “I was on the road at that time. I saw some skyscrapers shaking. There was water coming out of an infinity pool. People were scared that the building might collapse, but nothing like that happened. Public transport were shut for some hours…”
“My bed started shaking when the earthquake took place. After I woke up, I saw that the building was shaking. Later, I saw people 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..,” said Sanjiv Dutta.
Another tourist said that the situation had returned to normal, however, the metro rail system got affected. “The situation is normal right now, but when it happened, there was an emergency situation. Malls and offices were evacuated. The Metro rail system was shut..,” Ranjan Banerjee said.
Myanmar’s ruling junta announced Saturday that the death toll from the powerful 7.7-magnitude earthquake had risen to 694, with 1,670 people injured. The shallow quake struck northwest of Sagaing in central Myanmar on Friday, causing widespread destruction across large areas of the country.
India has dispatched a humanitarian aid flight to Myanmar, its foreign minister announced Saturday. The relief shipment includes tents, sleeping bags, blankets, ready-to-eat meals, water purifiers, solar lamps, generator sets, and essential medicines.
