Kristina Volk
BBC World Service

Earlier I spoke to a man who's part of a rescue team made up of ordinary people helping out in villages around the Mandalay area.

He's since sent me an update on the situation - they need machinery to reach people trapped under the rubble, he tells me.

"We are digging out people with our bare hands. It is not enough to get the bodies and people out who are trapped under the rubble," he says.

"People are screaming: 'Help me, help me.' I feel so hopeless."

It's around 23:30 in Mandalay, but we've just received more pictures from earlier today showing the extent of the damage in Myanmar's second-largest city.

They show some buildings have been reduced to rubble, while others are leaning dangerously over the streets below.

Thousands of people in Myanmar may need urgent shelter, food and medical help, according to the International Rescue Committee's Myanmar director, Mohamed Riyas.

He says it could be weeks before the full extent of the earthquake damage is known, as communication lines are down and transport is disrupted.

Riyas adds that rescue operations are under way.

Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, gained independence from Britain in 1948, but its history since then has been marked by unrest and conflict.

Power: The military seized power in 2021, ten years after agreeing to hand over control to a civilian government. Since then, the junta has cracked down hard on dissent, executing democracy activists and jailing journalists.

Capital: Nay Pyi Taw is its capital, while the largest city is Yangon, a commercial hub and former capital.

Population: 57.2 million.

Media: The 2021 coup "shattered the media landscape" and the junta, which "tolerates no alternative to its narrative", quickly banned critical outlets, according to Reporters Without Borders.

Julia Macfarlane
BBC News

A humanitarian worker in Myanmar has told the BBC how tough it is to operate under the country’s ongoing political crisis, which began when the military seized power in a 2021 coup.

“A lot of the way we operate is without seeking approvals, and at the same time, Myanmar is a place where you cannot do anything if you haven't gotten approval," she says. “So that means we are always trying to not get noticed, and if you get noticed you risk arrest, detention and a lot of behaviour similar to this.”

She says areas near the earthquake’s epicentre are still strongholds of the military, making it even harder to work there.

“The military's call for international aid is a positive sign,” she adds.

She says the recent funding cuts from USAID have affected them too – in fact, his team were meeting to discuss how the USAID cuts were impacting them when the earthquake struck.

For his organisation, she says they've been "lucky" because USAID funding has now been reinstated.

And it's not just aid from the US – "it's no secret the UK and Germany for example are cutting their international aid, this does affect us too."

Kristina Volk
BBC World Service

I’ve just spoken to a man helping to rescue people in the Mandalay area, near the epicentre.

He wants to stay anonymous because he fears the military.

As a reminder, since taking power, Myanmar’s government has restricted access to many websites and social media platforms.

So far, the focus has been on Mandalay, but he says the worst damage he's seen is in small villages nearby.

“The situation there is even worse than in Mandalay, with more than 100 people dead in the village of Bone Oe alone,” he says.

He’s also seen collapsed buildings in Amarapura and Tada-U.

The BBC has not been able to verify this claim.

“People there need medical teams, small earthquakes are still happening, everyone is on the field and the roads as they are afraid of the aftershocks,” he adds.

Here's a video showing how unstable buildings in the cities of Mandalay and Sagaing in Myanmar, near the epicentre of the earthquake, have collapsed to the ground.

Some structures are now left leaning against each other for support.

Here's what we know so far:

• A Myanmar military leader says at least 144 people have died and 732 are injured after the earthquake hit around noon local time
• Historic buildings in Mandalay – once the royal capital – have been damaged. The BBC has seen footage of a fire at Mandalay University and video showing parts of Mandalay Palace badly damaged
• The ruling military junta has made a rare call for international aid - but the opposition National Unity Government is urging that any assistance be delivered through independent, local networks

• Meanwhile, in Thailand, seven people died when a high-rise collapsed - the quake's effects were felt in neighbouring countries including Thailand and China
• Rescue efforts in Bangkok continue for 81 missing construction workers

We'll keep bringing you all the latest updates over the next few hours.

Andree Massiah
BBC News

Image source, Chris McNair

Chris McNair from West Sussex has been in Bangkok with his girlfriend and two cats for the past two months. Their condo was evacuated after tremors were felt in the building.

“We had to run away from the debris falling from our condo,” says Chris.

"My girlfriend got hit by a falling piece of stone. It was like a hailstorm of falling concrete and we wondered if the building would collapse."

But luckily, McNair says, it's still standing.

Rozina Sini
BBC News

Image source, Kevin Riley

Kevin Riley from Essex in the UK tells the BBC he felt the earthquake while out for lunch in Chiang Mai, Thailand.

"I felt things moving and I thought they were moving the tables," he says. "I looked up and everything was moving."

He says the "lights were moving, things were swinging" and that "every time I thought it stopped there was another ripple of movement", adding it lasted for "about two-and-a-half minutes".

“When we got back to the hotel, some of the rendering had come off the front of the hotel," he says. From his room, he could see the hotel's swimming pool area was "in disarray".

"The news of [the earthquake in] Myanmar is a disaster but we are hundreds of miles away and felt its power."

Image source, Kevin Riley

Image source, Reuters

We're now hearing reports from Thailand, which has also been badly affected by the Myanmar earthquake.

At least seven people have died at the site of an unfinished high-rise, according to the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration.

That's up from the three deaths we reported earlier.

One other person has been confirmed dead at a separate location, the administration says.

Elsewhere, we're seeing slightly higher numbers, but these haven't been verified yet.

In situations like this, the figures often change and can take time to settle in news reports.

A spokesperson for Myanmar's opposition National Unity Government (NUG) has urged the international community to send aid through "independent, local, and trusted channels".

Writing on Facebook, Sasa lists areas where help is "desperately" needed – including safe shelter, clean water and emergency medical care.

"We urge the international community; deliver support through independent, local networks to ensure real help reaches real people, fast," he said.

Ko Ko Aung
BBC World Service

Image source, Getty Images

The National Unity Government (NUG) was formed in April 2021, by groups that oppose the military junta currently in control of Myanmar, shortly after the military coup in February that year.

The Burmese military, known as the Tatmadaw, ousted the elected government led by Aung San Suu Kyi, just as it was about to begin a second five-year term.

She was later jailed for over 30 years after being found guilty of multiple corruption charges.

A harsh crackdown on pro-democracy protests pushed many young people to flee to ethnic areas, where they took up arms against the military.

Many joined the NUG’s armed wing, the People’s Defence Force (PDF). Working with ethnic armed groups, they’ve become a major force, now controlling much of the country outside the main cities.

Some smaller local groups in central Myanmar also call themselves PDF, though not all are under NUG command – even if they’re fighting on the same side.

The NUG is still struggling to gain international recognition and says it’s mainly funded by Myanmar’s people at home and abroad.

Myanmar's opposition National Unity Government says the earthquake has damaged "numerous buildings", including heritage, religious and community sites.

It says landslides have also happened, and key roads and bridges have been "severely impacted".

In a statement posted online, it says an emergency meeting was held and authorities are now gathering reports on casualties and damage, while also searching for people.

The statement pays tribute to those who died in Myanmar and Thailand.

"The damage to religious structures is also a loss to the nation's heritage, making it especially heart-breaking," it says.

It also warns there's a risk of more building collapses and dam failures because of structural cracks.

• Also read our explainer on what the National Unity Government is

In the aftermath of an earthquake, "liquefaction" can continue to cause damage to buildings and infrastructure, which the US Geological Survey (USGS) says could become a significant issue in Myanmar.

Liquefaction is the process by which water-saturated soil loses its strength and behaves like a liquid during earthquakes, according to the USGS.

In a warning, the body says: "Liquefaction triggered by this earthquake is estimated to be extensive in severity and [or] spatial extent", with more then 1,000 square km (380 square miles) set to be affected., external

If the ground beneath a building loses strength and begins to flow like a liquid, it can cause major damage.

As well as liquefaction, the USGS says there's also a "significant risk" of landslides - the movement of a mass of rock or debris down a slope.

Image source, Getty Images

Esme Stallard
Climate and science reporter

Following those recent figures (see our last post) - which show the number of people already known to have died as a result of this earthquake - let's look at how large this quake was.

Geologists have measured it as being 7.7 on a scale called moment magnitude.

The upper layers of the Earth are split into plates - these are constantly moving in relation to each other. Friction can build up along the boundaries of these plates, and when it's released an earthquake is felt.

The moment magnitude scale measures how much movement there has been during an earthquake and the effort required.

This scale is logarithmic, which means that an increase of one on the scale is equivalent to 10 times the amount of energy.

An earthquake measuring over 7 is a strong earthquake and according to the US Geological Survey - the science body of the US government - has a chance of significant loss of life and damages in excess of billions of dollars.

Some 144 people have died and 732 have so far been injured in Myanmar, following the earthquake that struck the centre of the country earlier.

The BBC Burmese team say these figures come from Myanmar military leader Min Aung Hlaing, who says the figures are expected to rise.

Breaking down the new numbers, the military leader says 96 have people have died in Nai Pyi Taw, 18 in Saigaing and 30 in Mandalay.

As for the injured, 132 of these were in Nay Pyi Taw and 300 were in Sagaing, with numbers still being assessed in other areas - the military figure says.

In Thailand, as we've already reported, three people have died following the collapse of a high-rise building. There's been no update to that figure since we heard it earlier. If that changes, we'll let you know.

Bangkok-based Australian filmmaker Mick O'Shea was eating in a cafe when he felt today's earthquake hit.

He describes realising potentially deadly "fist-sized" pieces of masonry had fallen from buildings.

“At first I thought 'am I feeling dizzy?’ because everything seemed a bit 'sway' if you know what I mean, in that first moment," he tells the BBC.

“It wasn’t vibrating - it was more like a slow sway, which was weird, and then I realised and saw everyone's reaction and thought 'there’s an earthquake'."

He says he watched as people flooded out of a nearby hospital, and noticed "thousands of fist-sized rocks that had been falling off the buildings".

"If one of those hit you after falling off a 20-storey building, you’re dead," he says, noting a car parked nearby had been smashed by such debris.

Image source, Reuters

Most of the buildings that've been destroyed in Bangkok as a result of this earthquake were under construction, a spokesperson from the Thai military says.

The Thai prime minister and relevant government departments met the army's commander at 17:00 local time (10:00 GMT), the spokesperson adds, to discuss the emergency response.

Officials have ordered the Army Disaster Relief Centre to mobilise troops, disaster relief tools and military medical units to the affected areas.

Damage to Thailand's public transport system must be assessed before it can operate normally again, the spokesperson says.

We've just brought you the latest images of an ongoing search and rescue operation at the site of a collapsed building in Bangkok, Thailand - which you can see in our last post.

Footage from earlier shows the moment the block, which was under construction, came down in the Chatuchak neighbourhood.

Workers can be seen fleeing the scene as a huge plume of smoke forms behind them.