Tharaya Poorisat (left) and her sister Kanwipa Chindaporn. Photo: Supplied / Tharaya Poorisat
An Auckland engineering student said her sister texted from Bangkok last night to say she was stuck in a mall and wasn't sure if she'd survive the 7.7 magnitude earthquake that struck the region, killing at least 140.
Tharaya Poorisat is doing her PhD in built environment engineering at Auckland University of Technology.
Poorisat said she was at her job as a teaching assistant when she received a text from her sister Kanwipa Chindahporn at 8.18pm.
She said her sister, an orthodontist, was on her way to work when there had been an intense earthquake.
The clinic was in a huge retail and business complex. Poorisat said her sister had just got inside the mall when the quake hit.
"She hadn't reached the clinic... she texted me. [It said] 'You know there is an earthquake, intense one in Thailand. It's very sudden, if I don't survive, all my money and stocks are all yours. It's so sudden, I have no time to write a will or anything. I was inside the building, there was an intense earthquake in BKK.'"
Poorisat said she was shocked.
"To be honest, I cried. I think there was probably a network failure but I couldn't contact her and she disappeared... I thought what would I do if my sister passed away? We are best friends."
In a family picture, Tharaya Poorisat is in the centre, and her sister, Kanwipah Chindaporn is on her right. Photo: Supplied / Tharaya Poorisat
Poorisat then went online.
"I was so shocked, it's the first earthquake in Thailand. We don't have any history of earthquakes and some of those buildings may be earthquake-prone, although normally I think we do well."
Poorisat finally heard back from her sister two hours later.
"She contacted me at 10.40pm to say, 'I'm home. I'm not dead.'"
Poorisat said her sister was "very lucky".
The mixed-use building, Siamscape, also housed several tutoring schools.
According to local news outlet the Bangkok Post, some students were reportedly trapped in it for a while, but they were all evacuated out safely later.
Poorisat, from Bangkok originally, said her parents and brother were out of town and they were also safe.
She contacted friends on Saturday morning.
"My friend told me her partner was running for her life - she was working on 25th floor and had to run down, it was horrible."
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