1,600 Killed In Myanmar-Thailand Earthquake – Officials

At least 1,644 people have been killed in a powerful earthquake that hit Myanmar on Friday, according to the country’s military government.

More than 3,400 people have been injured and 139 are still missing after the magnitude 7.7 quake, with rescue efforts continuing.

At least 10 more deaths have been reported in neighbouring Thailand’s capital Bangkok, some 1,000km (620 miles) from the epicentre in Myanmar’s Mandalay region.

The quake destroyed buildings, bridges and roads across swaths of Myanmar. Many believe the true scale of the disaster has yet to emerge due to patchy communications in remote areas.

In Bangkok, rescue efforts continue to focus on the collapsed 30-storey building, which was under construction at the time the earthquake hit.

The search has been complicated by  but sign of survivors have been detected and heavy machinery has been brought in to help clear the mountain of debris from the site, he said.

Still, “there is a lot of work left to get through,” Atikom Watkoson said.

Across Bangkok, engineers and government officials are now inspecting the integrity of the city’s hundreds of skyscrapers, with residents of many high-rise buildings reporting cracks in walls and floors.

“It’s all high-rise buildings in Bangkok’s city centre,” said Sirin Hiranthanakasem, a resident in the capital who fled down 23 flights of stairs when the earthquake struck and is now staying in a hotel, too afraid to return to her apartment.

“If something was to collapse, we would not survive,” she said. The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration has also opened an online portal for people in the capital to report damage to buildings.

Despite the chaos resulting from the earthquake and authorities declaring the city a disaster zone, Bangkok has quickly returned to normal.  The city’s airports functioning and light rail system back up and running, with most shops and restaurants back in operation.