At least 144 killed as powerful quake rocks Myanmar and Thailand.

BANGKOK (AP) On Friday, a massive earthquake shook Myanmar and neighboring Thailand, killing at least 144 people in Bangkok and burying scores after a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Photos and video from two heavily damaged cities in Myanmar revealed numerous fallen buildings and other wreckage, prompting concerns that many people were killed or injured.

In a televised statement, Myanmar’s military leader stated that at least 144 people had been slain.

“The death toll and injuries are expected to rise,” Senior General Min Aung Hlaing stated. He said around 700 individuals had been harmed.

The 7.7 magnitude quake occurred about lunchtime in Mandalay, Myanmar’s second biggest city, and was followed by a severe 6.4 magnitude aftershock.

The exact scale of death, damage, and destruction was not immediately evident, particularly in Myanmar, which is mired in a civil conflict and where information is closely regulated at best and appears to be widespread.

Photos from Naypyidaw, the capital, showed many buildings used to house state officials that had been demolished by the earthquake, as well as rescue personnel removing people from the wreckage.

Myanmar’s authorities stated that blood was in great demand in the most affected districts. Images of bowed and broken roads in Mandalay, damaged highways, and the collapse of a bridge and dam sparked fresh questions about how rescuers would reach some communities in a country already suffering from a massive humanitarian catastrophe.

A 33-story skyscraper under construction in Bangkok’s renowned Chatuchak market collapsed amid a cloud of dust, with bystanders screaming and running in a video uploaded on social media.

The sound of sirens rang across central Bangkok, as automobiles clogged the streets, leaving some of the city’s already crowded roads gridlocked. The elevated fast transport system and subway were shut down.

While the area where the quake struck is prone to earthquakes, they are generally minor, and they are rarely felt in Thailand’s capital, which sits on a river delta and is somewhat prone to quakes.

April Kanichawanakul, who works in an office building in Bangkok, had no idea it was an earthquake, her first experience with one. “I just thought I was dizzy,” she explained.

She and her coworkers dashed downstairs from the 10th level of their building and waited outside for a signal that it was safe to return inside.

According to Defense Minister Phumtham Wechayachai, the building fall in Bangkok killed at least three individuals and left 90 more missing. He provided no other information on the ongoing rescue attempts, although first responders reported that seven people had been saved thus far from the area.

Rescue worker Songwut Wangpon informed reporters that at least two of the fatalities were construction workers killed by falling rubble or debris. The China Railway Construction Corporation was responsible for the construction of the auditor general’s building in Thailand.

In Bangkok, those who had been evacuated from their buildings were advised to remain outside in case of further tremors.

According to preliminary data from the US Geological Survey and Germany’s GFZ geosciences institute, the earthquake was shallow, measuring 10 kilometers (6.2 miles). Shallower earthquakes do greater harm.

Bangkok’s city hall designated the city a disaster zone to aid in responding. The broader metropolitan region is home to almost 17 million people, many of whom reside in high-rise buildings.

“Suddenly, the entire structure began to move. “There was screaming and a lot of panic,” said Fraser Morton, a Scottish visitor visiting one of Bangkok’s many malls.

“I just started walking calmly at first but then the building started really moving, yeah, a lot of screaming, a lot of panic, people running the wrong way down the escalators.”

Thousands of people, including Morton, streamed into Benjasiri Park from neighboring retail malls, high-rises, and residential blocks on Bangkok’s popular Sukhumvit Road.

Many others were on their phones, attempting to call loved ones, while others sought cover from the blazing early afternoon heat.