According to USGS, the earthquake’s epicentre was located 16km (10miles) northwest of the Burmese city of Sagaing, near the city Mandalay. This is an area about 100km north of the capital Naypyidaw.
AFP journalists in Naypyidaw said roads were buckled by the force of the tremors and chunks of ceilings fell from buildings.
The quake struck 16 kilometers (10 miles) north northwest of the town of Sagaing, Myanmar around 12:50 p.m. local time, USGS said.
An aftershock of 6.4-magnitude struck the region around 12 minutes after the initial quake, according to USGS.
Ad Feedback
There was no immediate word about damage in Myanmar, which has been in a bloody civil war since 2021.
A resident in Yangon, Myanmar who did not want to be named, told CNN, “We felt the quake for about one minute and then we ran out of the building.”
“We saw other people running out of the buildings too. It was very sudden and very strong.”
The tremors were felt as far as Thailand’s capital Bangkok, where a CNN journalist reported frantic scenes in his apartment, with light fixtures swinging back and forth as residents rushed to evacuate the building.
Another resident in Thailand’s northern city of Chiang Mai, who also did not want to be named, said “I felt it for about ten seconds in my room then I figured out I couldn’t stay inside. So I rushed out on to the street.”
On Chinese social media, users said they could feel the quake in the provinces of Yunnan, on the border of Myanmar, and Shaanxi.
This is a developing story and will be updated.