Moment Woman Realizes She's Stuck at Rooftop Pool in Earthquake Goes Viral

A video of a woman "holding onto the sunbed for life" at the top of a high-rise building in Thailand during an earthquake has gone viral on TikTok. The shaky footage, posted by @jiaaaaaas, was captured from the 29th floor of a hotel in Bangkok. Since it was posted on March 29, the video has amassed over 124 million views. The video shows the woman's foot at the edge of a sunbed as a man is seen standing inside a rooftop pool, grabbing the far end of it while battered by waves of water bashing against the pool's edges. A couple of other tourists are shown on sunbeds near the side of the pool. A caption shared with the post reads: "One minute you're living your best life the next you're stuck at the top of a high-rise during and earthquake." In a subsequent video, the woman is shown sitting indoors as she says "I am safe in my hotel room having a drink," while holding a 7-Eleven drink cup. "I'm so nervous and the guy in the pool is also safe. But I am prepared to run if I need to—got my shoes at the door and emergency bag. But we're all good." A 7.7-magnitude earthquake has devastated Myanmar and neighboring Thailand. The earthquake struck around midday on Friday, with an epicenter near Mandalay, Myanmar's second-largest city. It was followed by a strong 6.4-magnitude aftershock. Bangkok, home to more than 11 million people, has been declared a disaster area. Rescue efforts are underway and emergency services are on alert for aftershocks. One building under construction completely collapsed in the city, while others shook following the earthquake. Authorities in the Thai capital said at least six people were killed, while 22 were injured, and 101 were missing from three construction sites, the Associated Press reported Saturday. The United States Geological Survey said Saturday that between 10,000 and 100,000 people across Myanmar and Thailand may have been killed following the earthquake. As of Saturday, the confirmed death toll was reported to have surpassed 1,600, with more than 3,400 injured, according to the AP.

'We Were in Fear for Our Lives'

In a later video, the woman from the viral TikTok clip explained that she initially "thought it was wind" when she began recording the scene, but "then it just got crazy." She recalled: "You couldn't have got up and run...the ground was slippery. I was holding onto the sunbed for life." "The other couple didn't know what was happening—it happened so fast, so, so fast," she said, adding, "It's not that we didn't have survival instincts; our survival instinct in that moment was to sit tight and stay safe."

She explained: "We were on the 29th floor. If we had tried to run on a wet surface, we would have fell and broke our necks. There was no alarm—the alarm only started as we had run to the fire exit." At one point, the poster phoned her family to "say my goodbyes basically," she said before going down 29 flights of stairs in a bikini without shoes. She stood on the street for five hours until guests were given the green light to head back to their hotel rooms. "I know it looks like we're just sitting there chillin' [at the rooftop] but we were in fear for our lives," she noted, saying, "we were just in flight or fight mode." Newsweek reached out to @jiaaaaaas via TikTok for comment. This video has not been independently verified. Do you have a travel-related video or story to share? Let us know via life@newsweek.com and your story could be featured on Newsweek.