At least 694 people were killed and 1,670 were injured by a strong 7.7 -magnitude earthquake that shocked Friday Friday in Myanmar, today the French News Agency (AFP) is reporting a newer report released by the junta ruled by Asian.

Another eight deaths have been reported so far in neighboring Thailand, where a skyscraper collapsed due to the earthquake.

Myanmar was shocked at 14:20 (local time, 08:20 in Greece) of a 7.7 -magnitude earthquake, which was centered 16 kilometers northwest of the city of Shangaging, coming from a focal depth of just 10 kilometers, followed by a few minutes later a 6.7 -magnitude postage.

“We are digging people with bare hands,” the BBC told Mandalay, near the epicenter of the earthquake in Myanmar. Mandalay is the second largest city in the country.

Rescue operations are also continued in the high -rise building that collapsed in Bangkok, with about 100 workers missing and six dead, according to local government officials.

The Myanmar junta has made a request for international aid – a rare appeal from a secluded regime.

Rescuer in Amarapura, an ancient city and today Mandalay’s suburb, said that 30 dead were recovered from collapsing apartment buildings. “I haven’t lived this before. Our city seems leveled, ”he said, estimating that one fifth of the buildings were demolished.

“We received calls for help from people who were trapped, but we cannot help them, we do not have enough hands, no machinery to move the ruins, but we will not stop the job,” he added.

General Mini Aung Hlating, the leader of the military junta who rules in Myanmar, warned that there were other victims and asked for international help.

Donald Trump told reporters that he had spoken to “officials” in Myanmar and that his government would provide help.

Rescuers are trying to reach dozens of monks who were trapped in the wreckage of the Paya Taung Monastery.

Bridges, roads and buildings have been completely destroyed, residents and local media reported.

Rescue and assistance efforts are complicated by the fact that the military junta has been involved in a conflict with replacement guerrillas.

In the capital, a hospital of 1,000 beds has been damaged and roads opened in the middle.

UN Secretary -General Antonio Guterres said the United Nations is mobilizing to support the affected.

State media reported that buildings were collapsed in five cities, as well as a railway bridge and a yogurt on the Yangon-Mandalai motorway. The shots show the damaged Ava bridge, above the Irauudi river, with its arches immersed in the water.

A resident of Mandalay said that in a district, Shane Pan, a fire broke out. The phones do not work and the electricity has been interrupted, he added.

According to two eyewitnesses, a mosque in the tannigo partially collapsed, killing three people. “We prayed when the earthquake took place. Three people were killed on the spot, “the witnesses said.

In Aung Ban, in the state of San, a hotel collapsed and the “democratic voice of Burma” said two people were killed and 20 others were trapped.

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Amnesty International commented that the disaster could not happen at a worse moment for Myanmar, given the high number of already displaced residents, the major needs of humanitarian aid and the cut of US aid by the Trump government. Due to the restrictions imposed by the junta on the media, the exact picture of the disaster may not be clear for some time, said Joe Frimman, a specialist in the organization on Myanmar.

After overthrowing the elected political government of Nobel Prize -winning Peace Aung San you and in 2021, the army tries to impose its power, leaving the economy and basic services, such as healthcare, under dissolution. The armed opposition (groups coming from minorities and new, resistance organizations formed after the coup) has occupied territories and expelled the junta from border areas. Due to conflict more than 3 million people have been displaced and more than one -third of the population needs humanitarian aid, according to the United Nations.

Myanmar has also been affected by natural disasters and the internationally isolated junta finds it difficult to adequately cope. The country is on the meeting point of two tectonic plates and this area is one of the most earthquake -prone in the world.

Ni Ni Kiau, a professor at the University of Bristol, said that Myanmar is completely unable to face the consequences of the earthquake because of the “collapse of civil society”.

In Bangkok, Thailand, many people took panic on the streets – including hotel customers with their robes or swimsuits. The waters ran like a waterfall from the pool of a luxury hotel.

Eight of the nine victims in Thailand were killed when the skyscraper collapsed, the anti -governor Tavida Kamolvet said. The missing over 100.