At least 20 dead and dozens missing as huge 7.7 magnitude earthquake hits Myanmar and Thailand

Parts of Bangkok were evacuated as the earthquake hit

At least 20 people are reported to have died and dozens are missing after a 7.7 magnitude earthquake hit Myanmar and Thailand .today (March 28).

Terrifying footage shows people rushing to evacuate as apartment buildings began to crumble and collapse, with water being thrown from swimming pools.

The earthquake, which hit at around 1.30pm local time., was centred in Myanmar, around 30 miles east of the city of Monywa. It later spread into neighbouring Thailand including Bangkok, which is home to over 17 million people.

Bangkok police say a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Police told The Associated Press they were responding to the scene near the city's popular Chatuchak Market, and had no immediate information on how many workers were on the site at the time of the collapse.

According to later reports, two people are understood to have been killed.

Dramatic video footage circulated on social media showing the multi-story building with a crane on top collapsing into a cloud of dust, while onlookers screamed and ran.

A second quake, with a magnitude of 6.4, shook the area 12 minutes later.

So far, 20 worshippers have been confirmed to have been killed and others are feared trapped following the collapse of a mosque in Myanmar.

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“All of a sudden the whole building began to move, immediately there was screaming and a lot of panic,” said Fraser Morton, a tourist from Scotland, who was in one of Bangkok’s many centres shopping for camera equipment.

“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, lots of banging and crashing inside the mall.”

Like thousands of others in downtown Bangkok, Mr Morton sought refuge in Benjasiri Park, away from the tall buildings.

“I got outside and then looked up at the building and the whole building was moving, dust and debris, it was pretty intense,” he said. “Lots of chaos.”

Alarms went off in buildings as the earthquake hit central Bangkok and startled residents were evacuated down staircases of high-rise buildings and hotels.

Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn has advised people to evacuate tall buildings and has declared Bangkok an "emergency zone" as a result of the natural disaster.

The Thai government is now also holding an emergency meeting in the wake of the disaster.

Meanwhile, Myanmar is currently in the midst of a civil war meaning that casualty data and reports will be more difficult to obtain.

Buildings in Bangkok have sustained damage, while reports are emerging from Myanmar of roads in the capital Naypyidaw buckling in the tremor.

Preliminary reports from the US Geological Survey and Germany's GFZ centre for geosciences have said that the earthquake was at a shallow 6.2 miles, with the epicentre in Myanmar.