Several dead as powerful quake strikes Thailand and Myanmar

A powerful earthquake killed more than 20 people across Myanmar and Thailand on Friday, toppling buildings and bridges and trapping over 80 workers in an under-construction skyscraper in Bangkok.

- Agencies

BANGKOK/NAYPYIDAW:

The shallow 7.7-magnitude tremor hit northwest of the city of Sagaing in central Myanmar, and was followed minutes later by a 6.4-magnitude aftershock.

The quake's devastation prompted a rare request for international aid from Myanmar's isolated military junta, which has lost swathes of territory to armed groups. A state of emergency was declared across the six worst-affected regions.

"About 20 people" were confirmed dead at a hospital in Naypyidaw, a doctor told AFP on condition of anonymity.

Across the border in Thailand, three people were confirmed dead in the collapse of a skyscraper, with 81 more missing and believed trapped in the twisted metal and rubble of the under-construction building.

Myanmar looked to have borne the brunt of the quake, with hundreds of casualties flooding a hospital in the capital Naypyidaw. The emergency department's entrance had collapsed onto a car, with medics treating patients outside.

A hospital official ushered journalists away, saying: "this is a mass casualty area."

"I haven't seen (something) like this before. We are trying to handle the situation. I'm so exhausted now," a doctor told AFP.

AFP reporters saw junta chief Min Aung Hlaing arrive at the hospital as the ruling military called for foreign help.

"We want the international community to give humanitarian aid as soon as possible," junta spokesman Zaw Min Tun told AFP at the hospital.

The rare plea from the junta raises the prospect that damage and casualties may be on a large scale, with Myanmar's medical system and infrastructure ravaged by four years of civil war.