A rescue team in Mandalay, the city closest to the earthquake's epicentre, tells the BBC they "are digging people out with our bare hands".

The quake shook a swath of Southeast Asia. Myanmar’s military government said 144 people were killed in just three cities. The U.S. Geological Survey estimated that the death toll was likely to surpass 1,

B ANGKOK — The death toll from a powerful 7.7 magnitude earthquake in Myanmar jumped to more than 1,000 on Saturday as more bodies were pulled from the rubble of the scores of buildings that collapsed when it struck near the country's second-largest city.