Some Calcuttans felt mild tremors of a powerful earthquake that rocked Myanmar and neighbouring Thailand on Friday.

Many did not feel any-thing.

An 7.7 magnitude earthquake hit strife-torn Myanmar just before noon, triggering the collapse of buildings in the region.

The quake was followed by a powerful aftershock and several moderate ones.

In Bangkok, Thailand, rescuers were searching for more than 80 people trapped in the rubble of an upcoming skyscraper grounded by the tremors, said a Reuters report.

Very mild tremors were felt in Calcutta, South 24-Parganas and North 24-Parganas, West Midnapore and some other places.

Subodh Sarkar, poet and teacher at City College, lives on the 20th floor of a gated community off EM Bypass in Mukundapur.

Just before noon, alerted by a maid, he saw a ceiling fan in the drawing room moving back and forth. “It lasted for a good 30 seconds,” Sarkar said.

The epicentre of the quake was too far from Calcutta for it to have any significant impact on the city.

The United States Geological Survey (USGS) said the quake was of 7.7 magnitude and at a depth of 10km. The epicentre was about 17km from the Myanmar city of Mandalay.

“Earthquakes with magnitudes of 7.0 to 7.9 are considered ‘major’ and can cause serious damage over larger areas,” says the USGS.

“Today’s Myanmar earthquake of M: 7.5 occurred at 11:50:52 IST in Mandalay. This earthquake triggered by the causative Sagaing fault of 1200km east of the Indo-Burma subduction zone. The rupture direction is towards Bangkok, Thailand, causing severe damage to structures in the region,” the National Center for Seismology (NCS) said on X.

There were six aftershocks of different magnitudes ranging from 4 to 7. The first, and the strongest, struck within 12 minutes of the quake, the NCS said.