Myanmar-Thailand earthquake live updates: Death toll crosses 2,000 in Myanmar
The 7.7 magnitude earthquake rattled much of Southeast Asia on Friday.
A powerful 7.7 magnitude earthquake rattled much of Southeast Asia on Friday, resulting in mounting casualties and flattened skyscrapers from Myanmar to Thailand.
The epicenter was in Mandalay, Myanmar, the country's second-largest city. Even Bangkok, some 600 miles away, felt widespread shaking and saw significant damage from the quake -- including the total collapse of a skyscraper under construction.
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Death toll crosses 2,000
Casualties are expected to rise as search and rescue efforts are underway in collapsed buildings in Myanmar and Thailand, officials said.
In Myanmar, the death toll has climbed to 2,056, with more than 3,900 people injured and 270 people reported missing, according to the Myanmar Military Junta.
In Bangkok, at least 13 people were killed in a building collapse in Chatuchak, according to the Bangkok Metro Authority.
American recounts being stranded after earthquake
An American who was on a subway train in Bangkok when the earthquake struck recounted being stranded as transportation in the city ground to a halt.
When her train stopped, Sid Simone said she went on Facebook to find out what was going on.
"I saw 'earthquake in Bangkok,' and so at that point, I knew that the entire city was going to start to diminish," the Michigan native told ABC Grand Rapids affiliate WZZM in an interview earlier Friday. "I have been trying to get home for five hours now."
With no train service, Simone, who is in Bangkok to make a documentary on vegan food, said she got into a taxi but abandoned it when traffic came to a standstill and the vehicle was low on gas.
WZZM spoke to her as she was walking along a highway, still about an hour from home.
"It's unfortunate because there's so many people that, we're all fighting trying to get home, but some people are trying to fight to get home because their family member is under that building, you know. Somebody didn't make it home," she told WZZM.
She told the station that her apartment complex was just down the street from where the under-construction high-rise collapsed.
"I was so blessed that I was not there today," she said. “I could have been shopping in that area."
Trump: 'We're going to be helping'
Asked about the Myanmar earthquake during a press event at the White House, U.S. President Donald Trump said, "We're going to be helping."
"It's terrible what's happened," he said. "We've already spoken with the country."
Trump did not elaborate on how the U.S. plans to send foreign aid.
State Department 'not aware' of any US casualties at this time
The U.S. State Department is "not aware of any U.S. citizens injured or killed" in the earthquake at this time, a State Department official said.
"We continue to monitor the situation closely and are in touch with local authorities," the official added.
The State Department said in a statement it extends "our deepest condolences to all affected in Burma and Thailand by the earthquake that struck near Mandalay earlier this morning."
-ABC News' Shannon K. Kingston
Scene in Bangkok was ‘pretty insane,' eyewitness says
Michelle Moody, an American living in Bangkok, was on her way to lunch with friends when the earthquake occurred.
"It was pretty insane," she told ABC News Live. "I lived in D.C. in 2011 with the earthquake there, and being an American, I had an idea of what to do, but most people were just running around kind of crazy and just trying to escape buildings so as quick as they possibly could."
In the aftermath of the quake, people were assessing damage to their residences and, with trains shut down, walking home, she said. Aftershocks remain a concern.
"I live in a high-rise, so definitely fear of aftershocks are something I'm worried about," she said.