Myanmar earthquake: Newbury man describes the moment his apartment in Thailand began to sway

A Newbury man has spoken of the moment he felt the earth move beneath his feet, as the Myanmar earthquake sent shockwaves across the region.

Jon Hicks was in his condo in Thailand when he felt his apartment shaking violently.

Fleeing into the street from his third floor home with his girlfriend, Pla, the 56-year-old described how he watched the building swaying from side to side.

“It was all very odd, very bizarre and very scary,” Mr Hicks said.

“The bed started moving. I looked up and the whole place was just going back and forth.

“I stood up and lost my balance.

“There was a loud noise like a jet plane above us and all of a sudden this gust of wind came past.

“The building was still shaking and we’re on the third floor so we went outside and we were just watching the building sway.

“Then it stopped and we were just like ‘wow’!”

An earthquake measuring 7.7 on the Richter scale had hit Myanmar, close to the city of Mandalay on Friday. So far more than 2,000 people are reported to have been killed.

Mr Hicks, who grew up in Speen and has been living in Chiang Mai for the past 10 months, said that luckily his building doesn’t appear to have suffered any structural damage.

But other buildings and temples in the city, which is Thailand’s second largest and around a five hour drive from the Myanmar border, were not so lucky.

Mr Hicks has shared pictures from Chiang Mai with Newburytoday, showing a collapsed building and other high rise blocks being held up by supports.

He said many buildings are now cordoned off and he has heard that two apartment blocks, of 30 floors, are being condemned. But luckily, he said, he hasn’t heard of any fatalities or injuries in the local area.

“People have had to move out of apartments,” he added. “This is Mother Nature so insurance wouldn’t cover you anyway, but certainly not in Thailand.

“But everyone just gets on with it. We had an earthquake and everybody just went back to work. They just walked back into their buildings, tidied up and just got on with it.”

After enjoying a successful career in IT in London, Mr Hicks returned to Newbury to care for his mother after she suffered a severe stroke.

When his mother died, two years ago this month, he decided to take a break and do some travelling.

The dad-of-one said: “From my window I can see mountains, there’s a good community here and the Thai people are wonderful.

“Now I am happy, I am comfortable and I’m not stressed anymore.

“My blood pressure is down, my cholesterol is down and I’m not constantly on my phone.

“I came for two weeks and I’m still here after 10 months.”