SINGAPORE - When the ground in her second-floor office in Myanmar began to sway on March 28, Juni thought she was just lightheaded from staring at her laptop screen for too long.
Then came the loud boom when a wooden beam crashed to the floor. The Singaporean, who declined to give her full name, was seized momentarily by fear and her mind raced. Were they under attack? Was it a bomb?
Juni, who is in her 30s and works in research within the oil and gas sector in Mandalay, realised what was happening when someone shouted that an earthquake had struck.
She immediately fled from the three-storey building with her colleagues.
Mandalay, Myanmar’s second-largest city, was among the areas rocked by a 7.7-magnitude earthquake on March 28, followed by a 6.4-magnitude aftershock minutes later.
Some people like Juni who live in Myanmar managed to emerge unharmed, but others were not so lucky.
In Myanmar alone, the death toll from the earthquake surpassed 1,000, the military government said on March 29.
The powerful tremors also struck Thailand and Vietnam, leaving widespread destruction.
A man in his 20s who is volunteering in Myanmar told The Straits Times he was helping someone troubleshoot a laptop issue on the phone when the caller suddenly panicked.
“I realised there were tremors only after the caller said something was wrong with the ground,” said the Singaporean, who wants to be known only as Alvin. When he stepped outside his fourth-floor apartment in Mandalay, he could hear items falling and breaking in his neighbours’ homes.
He quickly ran down the stairs of the five-storey building along with his neighbours. “We stood some distance away for about 30 to 45 minutes,” he said.
Mr Jeshua Soh, a Singaporean business owner in Myanmar’s human resource industry, said the earthquake was felt just as he landed in Yangon.
Although some parts of Yangon is facing power outages, his company’s office has back-up generators. Despite the risk of aftershocks, he is not worried about being back in the city. “We just do what we can and minimise risk,” he said stoically.
TOPSHOT - This photo shows a building collapsing in Mandalay on March 28, 2025, during an earthquake. A powerful earthquake killed more than 20 people across Myanmar and Thailand on March 28, toppling buildings and bridges and trapping over 80 workers in an under-construction skyscraper in Bangkok. (Photo by AFP)
A building collapsing in Mandalay on March 28 during the earthquake.PHOTO: AFP
Motorists ride past a damaged building after a strong earthquake struck central Myanmar, in Mandalay, Myanmar, March 28, 2025. REUTERS/Stringer
A damaged building in Mandalay after the earthquake struck Myanmar on March 28.PHOTO: REUTERS
Meanwhile, Sanda J., a Singaporean-Burmese student visiting her extended family in Mandalay, first noticed something was off when her glass of water tipped over during a meal with her mother and grandmother.
“I was about to move it to the centre of the table when it fell. My grandmother scolded me, saying it was bad luck for glass to break. I kept saying I didn’t push it, but she didn’t believe me,” she recalled.
The argument was cut short when her mother suddenly pointed out that everything in their fourth-level condominium unit was shaking.
“Pots and pans began sliding off the countertop,” said Sanda. “Someone was screaming for everyone to leave the building because there was an earthquake.”
They hurried down the stairs. “My grandmother is old, so we had to go more slowly. I started feeling really lightheaded, like I was going to vomit.”
People gather on a street near damaged buildings after a strong earthquake struck central Myanmar, in Mandalay, Myanmar, March 28, 2025. REUTERS/Stringer
As soon as tremors were felt in parts of Mandalay, Myanmar, people in buildings evacuated and waited until the situation stabilised.PHOTO: REUTERS
When they finally reached the ground level, the dizziness overwhelmed her and she threw up. They returned to their apartment after about an hour.
The experience left Sanda shaken but counting her blessings.
“I learnt that several buildings nearby had come undone due to the earthquake,” she said. “In a way, we were lucky that our building was safe to go back into and nothing severe happened to it during the quake.”
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Thanks for sharing!