Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra the country “has returned to normalcy” after a deadly quake rattled the capital.
Shinawatra said only one building collapsed in Bangkok, adding that the building was under construction and that no other buildings in the capital suffered a similar impact.
“We have tasked the Department of Public Works and Town & Country Planning to investigate as to what happened [to the collapsed building] and what would be the future standards,” said the PM.
At least 10 people in Thailand have been killed as a result of the quake. In neighboring Myanmar, the death toll currently stands at more than 1,000 with aid groups still struggling to reach those who need help.
Survivors of the large 7.7-magnitude earthquake that struck Myanmar on Friday have been scrambling through dirt with their bare hands to try and rescue those still trapped under rubble, hampered by shortages of heavy machinery.
Myanmar is ill-equipped to deal with the fallout of such natural disasters – the country has been mired in a bloody civil war since 2021 which has decimated infrastructure and internally displaced millions of citizens.
He described how some of his extended family members remain trapped under a collapsed building, despite his efforts to dig them out with his hands.
Meanwhile in Amarapura, a township in Mandalay city, a rescue worker said he was trying to reach 140 monks still under the rubble of a building. “We cannot help because we do not have enough manpower and machines to remove the debris,” he told the news agency, adding defiantly “we will not stop working.”
Several countries deployed rescue teams to Myanmar to boost relief operations with many people still missing after the country’s military government made a rare plea for help.
A Chinese team was the first international rescue group to reach Myanmar’s biggest city Yangon on Saturday morning, according to Chinese state broadcaster CCTV.