The entire region is on high alert after the 7.7 magnitude earthquake struck overnight
A dramatic video circulated on social media this morning showed the multi-story building with a crane on top collapsing into a cloud of dust, while onlookers screamed and ran.
Police told The Associated Press they were responding to the scene near Bangkok’s popular Chatuchak Market, and had no immediate information on how many workers were on the site at the time of the collapse.
Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra called an emergency meeting to assess the impact of the earthquake.
“All of a sudden the whole building began to move, immediately there was screaming and a lot of panic,” said Fraser Morton, a tourist from Scotland, who was in one of Bangkok’s many centres shopping for camera equipment.
“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.”
Like thousands of others in downtown Bangkok, Mr Morton sought refuge in Benjasiri Park, away from the tall buildings.
“I got outside and then looked up at the building and the whole building was moving, dust and debris, it was pretty intense,” he said. “Lots of chaos.”
The US Geological Survey and Germany’s GFZ centre for geosciences said the incident was at a shallow 6.2 miles, with an epicentre in neighbouring Myanmar, according to preliminary reports.
The greater Bangkok area is home to more than 17 million people, many of whom live in high-rise apartments.
Alarms went off in buildings as the earthquake hit around 1.30pm local time, and startled residents were evacuated down staircases of high-rise buildings and hotels in densely populated central Bangkok.
The epicentre of the earthquake was in central Myanmar, 30 miles east of the city of Monywa.
In the capital Naypyitaw, the earthquake damaged religious shrines, sending parts toppling to the ground, and some homes.
There were no immediate reports of the effect of the earthquake in Myanmar, which is in the middle of a civil war.
Thailand’s Department of Disaster Prevention said the earthquake was felt in almost all regions of the country.