United States Geological Survey said the quake was shallow, at a depth of just 10km (six miles) with the epicentre near the central city of Mandalay

A 30-storey skyscraper under construction for government offices has collapsed in Bangkok trapping 43 workers, police and medics said, after the city was rocked by a strong earthquake.

According to Agence France-Presse (AFP), the building in the north of the Thai capital was reduced to a tangle of rubble and twisted metal in seconds after the 7.7-magnitude quake in neighbouring Myanmar.